Fate
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: At 25 Kakashi had outlived most people he'd worked with as a shinobi.Because of this it was time for him to consider the resteration of his clan,whether he liked it or not.Sarutobi has decided to help by arranging a marriage for him with Tsunade's- K/femN
1. Chapter 1

Fate- 1) force predetermining events: the force or principle believed to predetermine events.

2) outcome: a concequence or final result.

3) destiny: something with decisive or far-reaching consequences that inevitably happens to somebody or something.

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He woke up to the insistant pecking at his window and slowly turned his head towards the window several feet away, but didn't bother opening his eye. He knew what the pecking was from and what it meant. He was being summoned by his Kage.

He lay there for a few minutes, his body feeling heavy yet relaxed from his late night activities. He slipped one of his hands towards the other side of the bed, seeking to see if his companion was still there. He doubted that she was since she was married and couldn't spend the night with him.

But it never hurt to check considering he was ready for another go if she was still there.

He could feel the cool slight indent on his matress where her body _had_ been. But he couldn't feel her so she must be gone. _Such a shame too but totally understandable._ He mused as he finally cracked open his eye and looked back at the window. The bird wasn't pecking anymore.

No doubt it had gotten tired of pecking at a window that refused to open, but at least it was still there. Sitting on his windowsill, just staring at him. He sighed and rolled out of bed and without modesty or shame due his naked state, walked over to the window and opened it and very carefully picked the little bird up and pulled it inside.

The bird flapped it's wings a little bit and chirped, startled. But settled down when he started to rub his thumb along the top of it's head and talk to it in a soft, soothing tone as he sat back down on his bed and pulled the little paper attached to it's leg then set the bird on his naked thigh and unrolled the paper and scanned it. His mind working at a steady pace despite the lack of rest he'd had.

He read it three times, the words not really registering with him. Well okay, most of them didn't register with him. There was one however that did. The word standing out in his mind. _Marriage. _He blinked and dropped his hands limply onto his lap nearly hitting the bird with one causing it to chirp and flap it's wings as it's little talons dug into his leg.

Marriage? What marriage? Who's? He wondered before scanning the note again.

_Kakashi, _

_Come to the tower at once. It's time that we talk about your the restoration of your clan. And the upcoming marriage that I've arranged for you. _

_Be here in an hour or I'll kill you._

_"Oh my god Sarutobi has finally lost his mind."_ He muttered as he lifted one hand to rub his face, pushing his silver hair back from his face. Then glanced down at the little bird that was nesting on his leg and asked in a serious tone. "If I trained you, would you peck his eyes out for me?" The bird looked up at him and chirped and he felt his lips curve up a little bit despite the sudden feeling of dread he got in the center of his chest.

"You're just a little killer aren't ya birdy-" He said in a playful tone as he scooped the animal up off of his leg and got up then walked back over to the window and opened it and set the bird outside. "Tell you what, wait here till I'm done getting ready and I'll get some bird seed and feed you before I go."

The bird twisted it's head at a strange angle and looked at him funny as he moved away from the window and disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door.

Fourty five minutes later he stepped out of his apartment with a small cloth bag of bird seed in his hand and unwound the cord tying it closed then walked past his window and picked up the bird and let it perch in his open palm and eat some of the food in his hand as he made his way down to the street and started for the tower.

The walk to the tower in the center of the village took a little over twenty minutes due to the fact that the streets weren't terribly crowded this early in the morning. Which made his trip considerably shorter because he didn't have to fight his way through the streets.

The bird finished it's food and hopped from his hand to his shoulder and rubbed it's little head against his masked cheek to show it's thanks for the food and companionship then flew away. He sighed and paused for a moment to tip his head back and watch it go as he heard some shouting coming from the building ahead.

Lowering his head he looked towards the source of the disturbance and stopped walking altogether when he saw the elderly Kage decked out in his shinobi gear, being held back by the arms by his personal bodyguards as he kicked and screamed oaths like a man in his prime. _What the hell did I just walk into?_ He wondered as the elder spotted him and pointed and shouted.

"_You! _You bastard! I told you to be here in an hour!"

He paled a little bit under his mask as the elder shook off the men holding him back and stomped up to him and grabbed him by one of his ears, startling a yelp out of him as the elder started to drag him towards the building snapping and snarling, "Goddamn youth these days- they don't respect their elders! They don't listen to instructions-"


	2. Chapter 2

Fate- 1) force predetermining events: the force or principle believed to predetermine events.

2) outcome: a concequence or final result.

3) destiny: something with decisive or far-reaching consequences that inevitably happens to somebody or something.

(******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Sarutobi huffed as he took his seat and glanced over at the nin he'd dragged into the building. He'd expected the younger man to put up a fight or at least punch him like he normally did, but oddly enough he was subdued. Quiet. Eerily there, yet not as he peeked through the window blinds at the people gathered below the office and narrowed his one eye.

"I think my rep just took a major hit..."

"I have no doubt it did-" The elder said with a tired sigh. "After all seeing the _feared_ and _ruthless_ Sharigan no Kakashi dragged off by his ear isn't something that is seen every day."

Kakashi hummed and dropped his hand from the blinds and said in an irked tone. "I may have to kill them later."

"Or at the very least make them disappear-"

"That too... But only the one's I like."

"Sit down Kakashi, we've wasted enough time with our usual witty banter."

"Really? Cause I can waste time like this all day if you'd-"

"Sit down please." Sarutobi said in a firmer tone causing the younger man to look at him for a moment before moving to do as he said. He took the seat across the elder's cluttered desk and folded his hands in his lap and waited for the man to say something since he himself wasn't sure where to start.

He watched Sarutobi pick up a file on top of the paper stack on his desk and open it and pulled a paper out and handed it to Kakashi who took it and sat back and made himself comfortable. "This is a request from Princess Tsunade that I received a year ago. In it she expresses concern for her granddaughter's future. She felt it would be in the girl's best interest to return to the village and settle down and start a family since she's now at a marriagable age-"

Kakashi scanned the paper in his hands and found that the elder hadn't skimmed any details.

"I was initally planning to marry her to one of the Nara's since I know that they are neutral about who they forge bonds with. However I recieved another letter a week ago, again from Tsunade, the feeling I got from this one was..._upsetting_. If she were standing before us both I would swear that she was hysterical. Perhaps even angry." Kakashi frowned, not knowing where this was going until Sarutobi handed him a picture of someone's shoulder.

A young woman wearing a lavender top with the collar pulled aside to expose the smooth ivory skin at the back of the shoulder with an intricate woven design in the shape of a butterfly with the kanji, _Hatake Kakashi_ in the middle of it in glowing white-blue chakra.

Kakashi blinked opened his mouth to say something, but no sound would come out.

Sarutobi could read his expression and body language though and knew that he was immidiately in denial, furious and disbelieveing even. Not that the elder could blame Kakashi any. After all, the elder wasn't sure just how much the younger man _knew_ about his own clan and how his clansmen chose their brides.

But Sarutobi knew. After the Sakumo fiasco, how could he not?

It was a subconscious reaction to a certain element in a woman that caused her to be marked. It was extremely rare for the Hatake in question to even realize that he'd marked her until she was of marriageable age since most Hatakes wound up marking small children between the ages of six and twelve. It wasn't that they were attracked to the children sexually- there was simply something about the Hatake's that subconsciously recognised that the female was their ideal future bride or something to that effect.

There wasn't a lot of detail in the explination that Sakumo had given him all those years ago. All he'd really said for sure was that he'd just _known_ the second he saw his mate, he'd simply known what was meant to be. He'd felt it in his heart, and in his soul.

Of course he'd been seven and his future wife had been three.

Still, that hadn't stopped the boy from terrorizing the villagers. And once Tsunami had gotten old enough to run really fast, Sakumo had recruited her into helping him terrorize the villagers until they had hit their teens. At which point Sarutobi had had to assign some Anbu to both kids and keep them apart otherwise the elder would have found himself ankle deep in silver haired little monsters.

Not that that had stopped Sakumo from stringing his Anbu up by their nuts and slinking off to see his girl any. The day that Sarutobi had found himself holding Tsunami's medical file- pregnancy test results and all- had been the day that he'd climbed out the window onto the ledge and threatened to jump. The end result being a fourteen hour standoff while some of the best negotiators in the village tried to talk him into coming back inside.

He'd refused at first. Then Sakumo had shown up and stuck his head out the window and yelled, _"Jump already or stop wasting our Saturday!"_ Infuriating him to no end, yet finally got him back inside without a scratch.

"Is this supposed to be a joke of some sort?" Kakashi finally hissed in a furious tone as he held the picture up to where Sarutobi could see it. The elder didn't even look at it.

"No. The mark is a legitimate claim-"

"A claim? What sort of claim? Do you want to help me understand why some person I don't even know has a chakra marking with my name in it?" _Oh boy, here we go._ Sarutobi thought as he sighed. He wasn't looking forward to explaining things to Kakashi. God knew how he'd take it.


	3. Chapter 3

Fate- 1) force predetermining events: the force or principle believed to predetermine events.

2) outcome: a concequence or final result.

3) destiny: something with decisive or far-reaching consequences that inevitably happens to somebody or something.

(******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Kakashi threw the chair he'd been sitting in out of his office window, exciting a bunch of startled/hysterical screams from some of the people below his office as the Copy nin roared. "What the fuck do you mean _I_ marked the girl? Just who the good goddamn is this bitch and why is she claiming that I marked her?"

Sarutobi heard someone outside shout, _"Genji's dead!" _And sighed as he let his head drop forward onto his desk. Oh god, Genji was dead. Kakashi was a murderer. _Should I lock him up or just hand him over to Genji's family to adopt as their new son? _He wondered as he tried to think of the best way to answer Kakashi's questions without setting him off further.

After all he'd just killed one of his comrades. Sure he had _no_ way of knowing that throwing the chair out the window would kill the anyone. But that wasn't the point. His greatest fear at this point was if Kakashi would flip out like his father had as a young man and raze the village to the ground.

"Well to be honest Kakashi, the girl isn't claiming anything. Tsunade is. In fact at this exact moment in time I'd bet that the girl in question is just as upset as you are if not more so-"

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Tsunade huddled in the corner of her hotel room, pale and frightened and wondering what Naru was doing with the flaming torch in her hand. "N-N-Naru, darling...dearest...my love-"

"Yes grandmother?" Naru asked in an furious tone, a muscle ticking in her jaw as she gave the woman a deranged smile.

"What are you going to do with that torch?" Tsunade asked nervously as her granddaughter advanced on her just one small step at a time. Apparently she was in no hurry to end their little game of cat and mouse. Either that of she was waiting for her heart to give out.

"I'm going to burn this whole place down- _Wanna watch?_"

"D-Do I h-have a-any ch-choice?" Tsunade stammered in alarm. Her granddaughter's smile went from deranged to angelic in 0.2 seconds and Tsunade whimpered. So that was a no then? _Oh those poor unsuspecting people._

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Kakashi had calmed down a bit after breaking the window and accidentally killing one of his friends, now he was standing at the window, staring down at the people loading Genji's body into a body bag and frowned. _Well, this is awkward._ He thought before asking curiously, totally perplexed by some details that he was having trouble understanding. "Why would I mark a woman I don't even know?"

"Well, Kashi. The woman was probably a child when you marked her and the reason that she was marked was because some part of you _saw_ something in her that you felt would be a credit to you as a mate. I thought I explained this."

"You did. I'm just having trouble wrapping my mind around it." Kakashi said, reverting back to the eerie calm that he'd displayed before.

"Yes. I'd imagine so."

"Then let me see if I've got everything straight. Because I've marked her this random girl- I'm expected to marry her?"

"Basically."

"I'm not going to do it." Kakashi said suddenly as he turned his head to look at the elder. "I'm not marrying some chit that I don't even know just because her granny is pissed and demanding that I do so. I mean it isn't like I got her pregnant right?"

Sarutobi's eye twitched a little bit. "Well that's true."

"Then I shouldn't have to marry her."

"Well, Kakashi I'm not altogether sure that you get the point of this meeting." Sarutobi said as the younger man made a move to leave. Kakashi paused half way out the window and looked back at him with a puzzled expression on his masked face.

"What would be the point then?"

"Well there are several, one of them being that your twenty five and have outlived many shinobi with the same level of experience and exportise. Two, is that it's time for you to settle down and try having a few kids-"

"I don't like kids. They aren't good for anything aside from kicking." Kakashi said with his signature eye smile.

"I think you have children confused with something else."

"Not really. After all if they're going to eat my food, pee on my furniture, and run off with my shit then...then yeah, they deserve a good kicking."

"Again I think that you have them confused with something else, but lets move on. The third reason for this meeting was to make you aware that you've marked someone. Which makes it _your_ responsibility to find and protect this young woman from harm."

"Ah, now it's starting to sound like a mission."

"Well, technically speaking-"

"Out with it you old fool before I decide to leave you twisting in the wind." Kakashi growled at him. He was starting to lose his patience.

"Let me put it to you this way Kakashi. The girl is royalty among the villagers for several different reasosns, and she bears your mark. Now lets say that she's out walking somewhere in Cloud or Demon, or Sand or even Rock country and someone sees that mark... What do you suppose will happen?"

Kakashi stiffened then paled a little bit and hung his head in defeat. "I'm being sent out to find her and bring her back here aren't I?"

"Yes."

"God I hate you sometimes." Kakashi muttered under his breath as Sarutobi gave him a strained smile. Sometimes he hated him too.

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Tsunade stared at the sea of red orange flames in utter horror as Naru pulled a map out of her back pack and used a red marker to mark out the town that they'd just left with a nice red X then refolded the map and put it away as Tsunade shrieked. "How many villages and towns must you burn before you're black heart is appeased?"

"Maa, what a rude thing to say. So I lose my temper and burn a few places down, big deal. At least the people are alive."

"Well, yes but-"

"No buts. As long as their alive they can rebuild. That is the nature of human kind. Now lets move. I don't want to be here when the Leaf nins come to investigate." Naru said as she slung her pack over her left shoulder and started walking. Leaving her grandmother gaping at her back, feeling torn between going back into town and helping the people and throttling her granddaughter for taking her frustrations on innocent houses and buildings.


	4. Chapter 4

Wanderer- I think you don't get the concept of fanfic.

This story, is fiction. Weird things can happen in it and it's acceptable.

I'm not promoting anything. If you can't tell the difference, seek _professional_ help.

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Sarutobi was playing him. He'd known it back at the office. And he knew it as he packed his things to leave the village. What he didn't know was _why_ the old man was playing him. Sure he had understood what the man said about the girl being village royalty and such, but that was neither here nor there.

No. He got the impression that the elder had left something out when he'd told him about the girl, still...he couldn't figure out what it was.

_I suppose I'll figure it out once I find the chit._ He thought as he finished packing his things and stood up and slipped his pack onto his back and walked towards the door. He figured that he'd check out some of the local towns fifteen, to twenty miles or more from the village and see if he could find the girl in one of them since Sarutobi had hinted that he'd only be gone for a week or less.

He sighed and stepped out of his apartment and locked it down with a bunch of seals and such then started walking. He figured that it would take him four hours to reach the nearest town. Then he could get a hotel room (paid for by Sarutobi) then he could kill a day or so pretending to get the lay of the land before he started his actual search since he was in no hurry.

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"What the hell is wrong with you that you turn to pyromaniac the second you get pissed?" Tsunade yelled at her back. Naru ignored her knowing that reminding her grandmother that burning things was her answer to everything because she found the flames comforting and renewing was pointless.

At eighteen years of age, Naru was an emotional cripple.

Whatever she felt or thought- everything was hidden and buried far beneath the surface facade that she had invented for herself to keep herself from being hurt beyond repair.

It wasn't her fault, it was the fault of the Leaf village who had abused her and sought to break her up until her grandmother had adopted her when she was twelve, and taken her far away from there. Up until that point her life had been a living hell.

She'd been kicked out of her home, sold into a brothel, escaped after being attacked, killed and wounded a group of ten or more people in her efforts, wound up imprisoned, drugged, beaten almost within an inch of her life and almost executed for crimes she didn't even recall committing.

Things got so bad that in an effort to protect her the Kage had had her locked up in a mental hospital- but of course that place hadn't been safe either. And after several failed rape attempts and murder attempts the Hokage had sent for two of his most trusted shinobi.

Jiriaya- the toad sage. And Tsunade the legendary medical nin and asked one of the two to take her from the village before someone finally managed to kill her. The toad sage had offered to take her, but Tsunade had said that a womanizer like him wasn't going to help the situation any and so she had adopted her and after changing her last name and having the Hokage fake her death, left the village with her grandmother.

Things had been difficult for the two at first, Tsunade had some nasty habits herself. Such as gambling, drinking and wracking up more debt than should be humanly possible for any one person and after Naru was grabbed by a few debt collectors- Tsunade had saved her and swore to her that she would stop so that such a thing never happened again.

She'd stopped drinking and wracking up debt. Though she still hustled people from time to time at card games. But after that everything had been much better. Tsunade had found herself with more time on her hands to explore new and interesting medical procedures while training Naru to use medical jutsu and to control her chakra.

She'd taught her some fighting techniques, then around the time she'd turned fifteen she'd sent her to train with Jiriaya for a summer and let him teach her more hand to hand and some sealing jutsu's. Which placed her skill level at about special Jounin level. And with the way her mind worked she was developing new jutsu's everyday.

"Hey! Hey! You should answer someone when they're talking to you brat!" Her grandmother's voice jolted her out of her own thoughts as the woman came trotting up so that they were shoulder to shoulder and looked at her funny.

"I'm still awake, Tsunade." Naru said with a sigh as she turned her head a little bit and looked at her.

"You're being very quiet-"

"You'd be quiet too if someone was screaming at you." Naru said in a dull tone as Tsunade stopped walking and grasped her wrist and pulled her to a stop. Naru looked back at her and frowned. Tsunade frowned back at her for a moment then sighed.

"Let's stop here and talk for a bit."

"I'm _not_ sharing my feelings." Naru said in an automatically irritated tone.

"I don't expect you to Naru. I just want to know what's going on in you're head right now."

"I've got the mark of a total stranger on my shoulder and you want me to marry the guy- anyone in my position would be contimplating murder."

"Are you?" Tsunade asked, wondering if she should be worried about the next town up ahead.

"The thought's crossed my mind a time or two. But no." Tsunade got a suddenly relieved look on her face that made Naru's inner sadist want to pick at her until she cried. But instead she stayed silent as her grandmother sat down on a protruding tree root as thick as five grown men standing side by side.

"Then what are you wanting to do?" Tsunade asked curiously. Naru shrugged her slender shoulders and looked thoughtful.

"I guess I want to meet this Hatake guy before deciding to do anything."

"You're planning to punch him in the face or something. Aren't you?"

"Nope. When we meet, I'm aiming low and I'm going to laugh while he wriths and cries on the ground." Tsunade cringed a little bit and gave her granddaughter a strained looking smile. Oh god, poor Kakashi didn't know what he'd gotten himself into by marking Naru. _Maybe I should sent another letter to warn Kakashi. _Tsunade thought as she said,

"You're a horrible person Naru."

"I don't care." The girl deadpanned as she kicked at a small rock laying in the center of the dirt road.

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Four hours later-

Kakashi stood on the mountain road outside of the town he'd been planning to check out first and couldn't believe what he was seeing.

The entire town was going up in a sea of red orange flames and he could hear the screams of the people in the valley below. Alarmed, yet knowing that he couldn't just stand there and do nothing- he slipped his pack from his shoulders and quickly ran down the road towards the town to help.


	5. Chapter 5

Tired mismatched eyes swept over the sea of soot smudged faces as the Copy nin helped an elderly lady get her cat.

The fire was out now, leaving nothing but cinders and smoke in it's wake as he carried the frazzled and singed cream colored feline over to it's owner and then carefully pried it's little claws from his vest and shirt sleeve and handed it to the woman who hugged the frightened feline as she thanked him and called him, "Such a nice young man." As several young men, all nins with the Leaf village insignia on their headbands walked over.

"Kakashi!"

Kakashi turned around upon hearing his name and smiled at his fellow nins. They were chunin, young- but not too young and while they didn't move in the same circles within the leaf village, Kakashi had at least worked with them a time or two on low level missions. "Yo." He said in greeting, feeling a bit happy that they had made it out of the inferno.

He would have hated to dig them out of the ruins and had to report their deaths to the Hokage. "Kichi, Yomi, Kensei- How ya doing?" Kakashi asked, digging for answers on whether they were wounded.

"We need to talk, Hatake-san."

"Oh? Alright then." Kakashi said with a slight shrug of his shoulders. He looked back at the people hugging their loved ones and crying and sighed. "Can we talk away from everyone else?"

"We were going to suggest that anyways."

"Where?"

The guy named Yomi, a young man in his early twenties turned and pointed towards what looked like the smoldering ruins of a church and Kakashi started walking. Looking back over his shoulder as the young men fell into step behind him. Once out of earshot of the towns people Kichi blurted, "We know who did this."

Kakashi blinked as Kensei elbowed Kichi in the chest and growled something at the younger man. Shrugging off the action Kakashi tilted his head to the side a little bit as anger and curiosity warred within him. "Who?" He asked in a tone that the chunin had never heard before.

"The Kyuubi kid is alive. We saw her walking through the village and confronted her about her crimes towards the Village and she got violent-" Kakashi held his hand up to stop them and growled.

"What the hell do you mean the Kyubbi kid is alive and you confronted her? You morons _do_ realize that the girl died, don't you?"

"That's just the thing Hatake-san. We never really thought that she died! We think that the Hokage some how hid her by faking her death." Yomi said. Kakashi stared at the three hard, trying to determine if they were lying, joking, or just plain high. They didn't look high. Nor did they look like they were lying or joking. Which could only mean that they thought they were telling him the truth.

_"Explain." _Kakashi said in a dark tone, the promise of retaliation and possible death spurring the men to explain their theory.

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Naru and Tsunade were almost to the next town when they stopped again to rest and eat some protein bars for lunch and were having a pleasant talk when Naru removed her long sleeved blue over shirt and started to twist her silver blond hair up away from her nape and used a hair clip to hold it in place when her grandmother caught sight of the bruises on her wrists, and along the back her left shoulder, spreading down along her back under her shirt.

"Naru? Where did you get those bruises?"

"Bruises?"

"The ones that I can see."

Naru got quiet and refused to answer, merely telling her grandmother after a length of time that it didn't matter how she'd gotten them.

(***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose betwenn his fingers and paced back and forth like an angry tiger as he said, "Okay let me get this straight. You dumbasses saw a young lady that resembled the dead Kyubbi container and your little brains told you to automatically confront this young lady. You pushed her around and even hit her a few times- then got your asses handed to you. And you think that this young lady is responsible for burning down the town because you believe that she was trying to kill you."

The three chunin looked a little uncomfortable at his tone but nodded their heads slowly before he exploded. "You assholes! Do you have any idea what you've done?" Kakashi shouted at them. The three looked slightly taken aback as the Copy nin snarled at them.

"You got it into your paranoid little brains that some poor_ innocent_ girl was the Kyubbi and knocked her around- threatened to hurt and even kill her for something that she didn't do! All based on a theory that you developed when the Hokage refused to let you dig up that poor childs grave-"

"Hey! You're sounding suspiciously like you cared about that monster Hatake-san." Yomi growled. Kakashi struck so fast that the three couldn't react quickly enough. His fist connecting with Yomi's jaw hard enough to send the chunin sprawling to the ground bleeding.

"_You sick bastards_. You low life scum. That child was the only living blood of the fourth Hokage who died trying to protect us, and her from the demonic chakra that she was born with. It wasn't her fault that her chakra manifested and nearly destroyed the village! How could you blame an infant- a newborn child for something that was beyond her understanding or control!"

Yomi spat out some blood and a few teeth and looked up at him, his grey green eyes burning with hatred. "How could you not when she took what was precious from you?"

Kakashi let out an enraged howl and kicked the man in the face as he was tackled from behind by the other two.

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Tsunade had just stepped through the town gates with Naru close at her heels when the younger woman stopped walking and turned to look the way that they had just come. "Naru? What's wrong?" Tsunade asked curiously as she saw her granddaughter tense up a little bit before relaxing again.

Naru said nothing for a moment then turned to look at her and shook her head. "Nothing... Nothing's wrong..." She said in a slightly shakey voice as she turned and started walking again, her mind awhirl.

She could have sworn that she'd just heard something howl. But what animal could have possible made that sound?


	6. Chapter 6

After his confrontation with the three chunin Kakashi was left with some really unsettling thoughts to think on as he wrote out a message to Sarutobi, telling him about the destruction of the town and that the people would need shelter until they were back on their feet.

And at the bottom of the note he mentioned the the three chunin's attack on an innocent girl said to look strikingly like the Kyubbi vessel and told him to be prepared for mass rioting in the streets when the people learned of the girl.

He expected the elder would take steps to make sure that if the girl ever came to the village that she was at least partially protected, but like all things- Kakashi knew someone would fuck up somewhere. So he mentioned in a casual manner that he might look for the girl himself. And place her in protective custody until he returned to the village with his 'bride' and the girl in tow.

Although the thought of dealing with two women wasn't exactly appealing to him. He might manage if his 'bride' somehow mysteriously fell off of a cliff or something.

Still the chunin had made some valid points before their scuffle. The Hokage of their village was a sly old man, Kakashi wouldn't exactly put it past him to fake his sensei's daughter's death to prevent her from being killed. Yet at the same time he didn't think this was the case. Surely if it was the old man would have said something to him in the past eighteen years.

Surely he would have mentioned something to him during the three times he'd wound up in the mental hospital for nearly suffering psychotic breaks while _mourning_ his late sensei's only child's death. But then again-

If he had, Kakashi would have defected from the village just to find her. Still from time to time he couldn't help but wonder and there was nothing wrong with that. Though if he ever found out that the old man had nearly killed him for nothing, he'd string him up by his balls and use him for target practice everyday for the rest of his life.

_And I'd enjoy it too._ He thought sadistically as he pulled a map out of his weapons pouch and unfolded it and looked at it. The next nearest town was over ten miles away. He could reach it before dark if he hurried.

Biting his thumb he went through the hand signs to summon his ninken and upon the appeacance of one, handed them the note and gave specific instructions for the dog to run ahead of everyone else and deliver his note to the Kage then refolded his map and started walking in the direction of the next town.

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Naru was unusually quiet all through the evening and through dinner. She didn't eat much but then she never really did except for when the Kyubbi was about to go through it's mating cycle. And even then she only ate an extra handful of food and the rest of the time she just slept.

Tsunade wasn't sure how she had managed to survive the Kyubbi's mating cycles, but somehow Naru managed to put up with them and come out perfectly fine by sheer force of will.

Still, the girl's silence was bugging her. Shouldn't she be up moving around? Maybe growling and muttering under her breath like she usually did during the early evening hours when Kyubbi was more prone to speaking and moving around?

She didn't seem to be acting like herself, and she was worrying Tsunade. "Naru? Dear are you alright?" The older woman asked curiously as she got up from the small table where their left overs from dinner sat along with both of their cups and plates.

The girl didn't say anything. Didn't move. Didn't respond to her question in any way. Making Tsunade wonder if perhaps she had fallen asleep or something. But then she saw her blink and simplely guessed that her grandaughter was merely ignoring her because she wasn't feeling scociable. Which in itself would have been fine if she wasn't so quiet.

It made her think that Naru had withdrawn into herself like she had when she was younger. She sighed and walked over to Naru and flopped down on the edge of the bed where the girl was sitting and reached out and ran her long scarlet fingernails through the girl's tangled mid back length silvery blond hair.

"You look just like you're father you know-" Tsunade said almost cheerfully as Naru turned her head to look at her over her shoulder. Tsunade smiled at her then said, "But I can see so much of you're mother in you when you turn your head a certain way. Sometimes when I see you smile or get a devious look on your face it feels like I'm looking at her. Only your much prettier. And more agreeable personality wise."

Again, Naru didn't respond and Tsunade leaned in and kissed her cheek then moved away. "You look tired kiddo. Maybe a nice long sleep will loosen your tongue a bit." Naru blinked and Tsunade could almost hear her think, _Doubtful, _and grinned at the girl as she flopped down on her bed then let out a fake snore. Naru snorted and rolled her eyes.

Tsunade could sleep if she was tired. Naru couldn't. There were far too many lights in this town, the winking, twinkling displays tended to keep the younger woman awake all hours of the day and night.

Besides, she wanted to go out exploring anyways. She stood up and grabbed her long sleeved over shirt and headed for the door, ignoring her grandmother's sudden look of curiosity as she slipped out of the room.

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He'd reached the town a little over an hour ago and finally found a hotel and was looking forward to sitting down to some good food, rest. He wason his way to his room, room 302. When he saw a door up ahead open and a young woman with silvery blond hair in a long sleeved blue shirt over a black V neck shirt.

Kakashi paused in mid step as she closed the door to her room and studied her for a moment, intent on seeing if this was the girl that the three stooges from before had told him about.

She looked about eighteen, stood at five foot six in a half inches and had a slender, yet nicely curved body. Her hips and breasts weren't too big nor too small. And her face-

The second he got a good look at her face everything in him went completely still. His mind crashing to a halt as she brushed by him. His heart thudded in his chest, his blood pressure suddenly hit the roof and his jaw went slack. Holy shit!

He'd know that face anywhere! That was- Minato-sensei's face.

He turned his head and watched her walk further away from him and couldn't quite figure out what to do. Run after her and put her in cuffs and tell her that she was going to be his new best friend. Or send a scathing letter to Sarutobi about hiding shit from him when he shouldn't.

And while he was debating she was getting further and further away. _Dammit!_ He thought in frustration as he automatically made a descision and dumped his pack and gear just outside his door and summoned another ninken to guard it then took off running down the hall after the woman, hoping that he hadn't lost her already.


	7. Chapter 7

Kakashi had been relieved to find that he hadn't lost the girl as he had reached the lobby and stopped long enough to look around and find her again before making his way towards the door right as she walked out of the hotel.

He'd been following and observing her for the past hour. Winding his way through the crowded streets of the red light district. His headband, that he usually used to cover his Sharigan, had been pushed up. Uncovering his scarlet eye so that he could see anything..._odd_ that the girl might do.

So far all he had managed to see was the faint glow of chakra that surrounded her body, almost like an invisible shield.

The full ramifications of using one's chakra in such a way wasn't lost to the Copy nin. He knew that the girl was surrounding herself with a small amount of chakra in an defensive move. She could use it to protect herself from severe injury and also use it to attack.

Meaning that she wouldn't be an easy person to get close too unless he was ready to lose a limb or two. Perhaps even his life.

Which meant that he'd have to catch her off guard in order to get close. He made a humming sound as he followed her at a decent fifteen to twenty feet back as he wracked his brain to figure out how to get her to drop her guard and decided to try an experiment of sorts.

Reaching up he hooked a finger in his mask and pulled the fabric down under his chin and vanished.

He reappeared again about ten steps in front of her and waited patiently for her to get in close then just as she was about to brush by him, he grabbed her in a lightning fast move that startled her and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek and waited a heartbeat or so to see what she would do.

She was still in his arms for a moment then made a frustrated sound in the back of her throat and kneed him in the upper thigh, dangerously close to his nuts forcing him to release her as she muttered, "Dammit, I hate dealing with drunks. Sure their mostly harmless, but they are also touchy feely bastards."

Kakashi's left eye brow twitched and he wanted to say something to her about _not_ being drunk, but he was still gathering information at the moment so telling her he was sober would only get his ass kicked. Still, her comment sort of hurt his feelings a little bit.

But that didn't stop him from mentally chanting,_ Look Closer. Deeper. Drunk or not you should be able to feel my chakra and know what I am. _The girl looked at him and slowly tilted her head to the side and Kakashi had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. Ah, now she noticed.

Well that hadn't taken her half as long as he'd expected. Someone must have trained her quite well. "You're a high ranking nin..."

Kakashi didn't say anything, because he was pretending to still be drunk- or perhaps something slightly less offensive so instead of speaking he pretended to stagger around a little bit then flopped down on his ass in the street and pretended to pay attention to something else and could see her gradually relax out of the corner of his eye.

So that's it. She wouldn't drop her guard unless she considered someone not to be a threat. That was good to know since he was already planning to go back to the hotel and bump into her in the morning and try striking up a conversation. He'd need to know as much as he could if he was going to place her in protective custody and take her back to the village.

She put some space between them and moved within the crowd around him, her deep blue violet eyes watching him warily. He tried reaching out as if to grab her ankle or something and saw her tense, quickly evade his hand and vanish from his sight.

Well. He hadn't expected her to be so skittish but he supposed that he understood how she must feel to be grabbed and kissed by some stranger on the street. She'd be wary of him tomorrow when he approached her, perhaps even wary of him after he placed her in protective custody. He'd have to work hard to gain her trust and let her see that he wasn't such a bad guy.

He got up and dusted his pants off and sighed. Well, there was no point in continuing to follow her tonight. He'd let her go do whatever and find her again in the morning. Right now he was really tired and in need of some sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

I seem to have confused a few people with the bottom of the chapter so let me see if I can fix it.

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Kakashi awoke the next morning to the low hum of voices in the hallway and rolled out of this bed and quickly made his way over to the door and cracked it to see who was out there.

He saw the young woman from the night before, wearing an long sleeved skin tight turqouise blue kimono style shirt with little a lavender colored cherry blossem pattern on it. Her long hair was pulled back into matching ponytails at her nape, similar to the tall ash blond woman walking beside her.

"I'm telling you Tsunade some drunk kissed me last night. And he was a nin too!"

"Oh?" The woman that the girl had called Tsunade said in amusement. Kakashi frowned, the woman with the girl couldn't be Tsunade the slug princess could she? She certainly had the height and build of the slug princess. But after a moment or so of silent debate with himself decided that there was _no way_ that the woman could be the slug princess Tsunade.

She had to be someone else otherwise taking the younger woman into protective custody was going to be a _real_ bitch since it was a well known fact that the woman traveled with her granddaughter and was notoriously attached to the girl.

Sort of like Jiriaya was attached to hot springs full of naked women.

He closed the door to his room and quietly grabbed some clean clothes, and his shaving razor and walked into the bathroom to shower, shave and make himself presentable while the women continued to talk out in the hallway.

He thought he heard the faintly spoken words of 'silver' and 'physically beautiful' but then he turned on the shower and the sound of the two's voices were drowned out. He unzipped his dirty vest and shrugged it from his shoulders and dropped it onto the floor of the cozy white and black tiled floor of the bathroom. Then pulled his shirt up over his head and stood there for a second in front of the mirror looking at himself.

No matter how many times he saw his reflection, he always felt like he was looking at a stranger. The face was his, and logically he knew that the body attached to it was his...but it never felt like it was his. Everytime he looked into the mirror he felt he was staring at his father or something.

He stared at himself in the mirror, noting the various scars littering his arms and torso. There were between thirty to thirty eight in all. There was the pink jagged scar on his collar bone that he'd gotten from Obito the first day they'd met.

The boy had tired to hit Minato-sensei with a jutsu that would supposedly 'lay him out' but when he'd thrown it Minato had stepped off to the side and Kakashi had gotten hit by it.

Which hadn't been good. But Minato-sensei had thought it_ hilarious_ how Kakashi had jumped up, smoking and shaking, and had chased the young Uchiha across the training grounds throwing kunai and paper bombs everywhere while trying to catch him so that he could kill him.

He had a long jagged scar on his chest from where he's been wounded during the last war and had to have open heart surgery to fix the wounds he'd suffered before he died from them.

He had several small thin pink lines over one of the arteries in the right side of his neck were he'd had his throat partially cut in an effort to torture information from him. He had other scars, from where his fingers, and one of his arms above the elbow had been severed. Scars along his ribs and abdomen. There were more along his back, upper thighs, and the bottoms of his feet.

But he didn't care to think about them right now.

He shook himself from his thoughts and blinked at the fogged up mirror and sighed. He needed to stop thinking so much. Living in the past never did anything for anyone. Unless one counted Orochimaru, but he was a stark raving lunitic.

He finished undressing and grabbed his razor and stepped into the shower and sighed as the warm water hit his skin.

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"Okay, so tell me more about this guy that kissed you last night when you went out. You said that he had silver hair, and a scar over his left eye-" Tsunade said anxiously as she sat down across from Naru.

The younger woman looked up from playing with her straw wrapping and blinked at her grandmother. "Yeah. His eyes were different colors, he had one dark blue and the other was red."

"Did his red eye have strange symbols around the pupil?" Naru looked thoughtful for a second then slowly shook her head no. She couldn't recall any odd symbols around the man's pupil.

But she could remember that his eyes almost looked like they were glowing in the faint darkness of the street. They had been so intense and focused... She scowled and then muttered under her breath, "Son of a bitch-" He hadn't been drunk at all, had he? Which could only mean that he was gathering intel or was undercover or something.

And he'd used her to get what he wanted. _That no good bastard. The next time I see him I'm gonna-_

_Ah, she must have run into Kakashi. _Tsunade thought as she fidgeted with her shirt sleeve for a moment. If Kakashi was lurking around the town somewhere then they needed to hurry up and leave before he came looking for them. Because Naru was the spitting image of his late sensei, the man would definately not let her go easily. He would have questions too.

Questions that Tsunade didn't dare answer for Naru's sake.

After all what man liked to hear that their future bride may not ever love them? Among other and more _unpleasant_ things.

She'd bet that once he found out that Naru was his future wife she could expect a myraid of emotions. Shock, horror, joy, pain, sorrow- Neither Kakashi nor Naru were ready to meet up just yet.

That much was obvious by how annoyed her granddaughter was at the moment.

"We need to have a serious talk Naru." Tsunade said, drawing her granddaughter's eyes to her face. "The man you ran into last night is...a friend of your future husband. He was probably sent out to help your future husband find us-"

"We've been over this old woman. _I'm. not. marrying. anyone._" Naru growled menacingly. She'd rather die that marry some old fart she didn't even know or like.

"If that man finds you Naru, you won't have a choice. That's why from now on I'm putting plan nine in effect. Until I say otherwise you are to keep your overshirt on to cover up that mark on your shoulder and I'm changing your name to Angel. You will speak when spoken too and say nothing about why you're traveling with me other than you wanted to learn medical jutsu." Naru started to open her mouth and say something when Tsunade brought her hand down on the table and growled.

"_Shut it!_ I'm doing this to allow you some time to possible gather intel on your future husband. That way you can get to _know_ him without having him know who you are."

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Nope, didn't work. Now I'm confused.


	9. Chapter 9

I'd like to say that I'm sorry for not updating much Naruto lately. I had an accident four or five days ago where I suffered second degree burns on my left hand on both the top and bottom. I had blisters, my skin peeled off and for a short time my fingers were I dunno how to describe it- fused together, maybe... So for the past few days I've been typing one handed.

And then the other day one of my friends from another archive asked me to write out a few chapters to one of her stories because she collapsed and had to go to the hospital and needed to take a break. Needless to say I've temporarily hijacked her story and I'm loving it. She'd loving it too. I did however update my second fem Naru/Sakumo story- The Nice Guy and those chapters are up for anyone who gets bored.

So... I guess that's it. I'm off to write something else now. Later-

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Kakashi was walking down the hall towards the lobby in some clean civilian clothes that he'd brought with him, just in case. His semi shoulder length silver hair damp from his shower, his jaw was freshly shaven and his hands were stuffed into his pants pockets and his backup eye cover- which happened to be a black leather patch- was firmly in place over his Sharigan eye.

He walked into the lobby, ignoring the looks he was getting from some random people scattered about the room and looked around. He frowned when he didn't spot the women at first and wondered if he'd missed them.

He took his right hand out of his pants pocket and checked the watch he was wearing. He figured that he'd only been in the shower ten minutes. Add another three minutes to that (two to shave and one to pull his clothes on) and he doubted that he'd actually missed them since the two hadn't known he was in the area and had no real reason to run unless they were in trouble of some sort.

He shrugged his shoulders. The cream colored long sleeved button up shirt rippling with the movement as he glanced around the room again. He heard a woman shriek and glanced in the direction of the sound and almost banged his head against the wall next to him when he saw a young woman with ash blonde hair tied back in two pony tails slamming her hands down on her table and practically shouted at a shorter young woman.

"_Shut it!_ I'm doing this to allow you some time to possibly gather intel on your future husband without him knowing who you are!"

Kakashi looked the woman over and cocked his head a little bit. Why, she looked like the Slug Princess. But she couldn't be- Until..

The younger woman jumped up out of her seat and Kakashi made a happy chirping sound as he noticed that she was the young woman from the night before. _Ah!_ _Found her. _He thought as she snarled at the older woman.

"Bite me Princess Tsunade-" Kakashi felt the bottom drop right out of his stomach right then and there as the younger woman growled. "I told you I'm not marrying some guy just because I have his-" Kakashi blanched a little bit as the older woman reached out and put her hand over the younger woman's mouth and hissed at her as she looked around the lobby anxiously.

Kakashi's shoulders slumped and he hung his head in defeat. _Shit_. To think that the woman he had run into last night may very well be his 'bride'. It made him want to turn around and walk away and avoid the pair altogether.

_Jesus, I just can't catch a break can I?_ He thought in wary humor before raising his head and sighing as he tried to think. Now he had two choices.

Option one- run like hell in the opposite direction. And two- Own up to his responsibility (like Sarutobi had said) and protect the one with his mark on her skin.

Frankly, he was starting to _hate_ and _despise_ the word resposibility. Really he was. And once his choice was made he took a moment to straighten his spine and make sure that he looked as non threatening as possible and stepped out into the open and headed towards the table the two women were sitting at.

All while making a mental note to do something really evil and dastardly to Sarutobi once he returned to the village.

He walked up to the table, making sure that the younger woman didn't see him coming even if her companion did and smiled pleasantly at the woman as she got a wide eyed and almost horrified look on her face.

"Yo, Princess Tsunade." He said in a calm tone as he lifted a hand in greeting, his smile never faltering even as she gave him a once over and all but shouted in shock.

"Kakashi!"

He grabbed a chair next to the other woman and pulled it out and without an invitation, sat down as the other woman turned her head and looked at him. He stared back with an amused smile on his face as she blinked at him then pointed at him and asked, "You Kakashi?"

He let out a rumbling laugh. Amused by how shocked the young woman appeared to be as he nodded his head. Tsunade seemed to pull herself together and sat back down along with the other woman and both females flushed and awkwardly cleared their throats as he finally said. "My but you're excitable, Princess."

"You almost remind me of that idiot sage you grew up with." Kakashi said with a small smile as Tsunade turned red and looked even more horrified than she had before. If that was at all possible.

"And you're still a bastard, I see." Tsunade finally snapped as she crossed her arms over her large breasts. Kakashi made a noncommital sound but mentally agreed with her. He _was_ still pretty much a bastard.

He was told so often. Sometimes as much as ten times everyday.

"Of course. Time can only do so much to mend one's manners... Or so I'm told."

"Sarutobi's still trying to beat some manners into you-"

"Yup. Just like you're trying to recapture your youth." Kakashi said carelessly as he propped his elbow on the table and settled his chin in his hand and grinned at the woman as she sputtered in outrage.

Naru watched the exchange between the two with some interest before deciding that she didn't like Tsunade's ex-boytoy. Deeming him rude and obnoxious and completely dismissed him from her mind so that she could focus on her breakfast when it was brought to her.

Kakashi glanced at the woman next to him, somewhat baffled by why she wasn't interacting with himself and Tsunade. Most women who had arranged marriages would show some interest in the person that they were supposedly marrying, but not this woman.

She was detached. Aloof. _Untouchable_.

What was wrong with her? He wondered as anger churned in his chest. God help him, but for some reason it pissed him off that she was so disinterested.


	10. Chapter 10

Kakashi sat with them and talked for what seemed like forever, occasionally glancing at Naru with confusion. He already knew that the girl was his supposed bride and though he knew that, he kept wondering why she was ignoring his presence.

Honest to god, she was acting like he didn't even exist!

It was the most perplexing, most..._odd_ feeling he'd ever experenced before and after a while it grated on his nerves.

Finally after being ignored for so long, he decided to try an experiment of sorts and reached out and grasped the girl's hand as she was reaching for her drink. She blinked and frowned as if puzzled about where the hand grasping hers had come from then looked at him.

"What are you doing?" She asked in a peeved tone.

"Holding your hand-" He said with a charming smile, trying to get her to sofen a bit towards him. For a moment he thought his charm might be working on her. And then she stabbed him with her fork causing him to yelp and quickly let go of her hand and pull his arm back then looked at her funny. His silver eyebrows nearly meeting in the middle of his forehead as he stared at her- _hard. _

Then turned his head and looked at Tsunade and mouthed, _What's wrong with her? _

Tsunade picked up her drink and shrugged her shoulders, knowing that he wanted to ask her some things. But she couldn't give him the answers he wanted while Naru was sitting at the table. It would simply be too cruel. And she had worked far too hard to try and heal Naru's wounds simply to reopen them for Kakashi.

Frankly, the destruction of Naru's life wasn't worth it. "Uh..._Angel_, if I give you my wallet then would you mind leaving for a few hours? Kakashi and I have some things to talk about."

The girl- Angel looked at Tsunade with a peculiar experssion on her face and asked in an almost child like tone of voice, "Are you going to talk about lovey dovey stuff?" Kakashi frowned at her use of words and wondered who the hell talked like that as Tsunade gave the girl a grin and tossed her a little violet and poka dotted wallet as she nodded.

"That's right. We have lovey dovey things to speak of-"

"I'm gone!" The girl said as she jumped up out of her chair and tucked the wallet into her front right side pant pocket and all but ran for the door. Kakashi let out an impressed whistle then glanced over at Tsunade who looked totally somber now.

"I've never seen a girl her age run so fast when the words 'lovey' and 'dovey' are mentioned... There is a reason for that right? Just like there must be a reason why she looks exactly like my late sensei."

Tsunade looked taken aback for a second then sighed. Crap. "I'm sure that you must already know why she looks like your sensei-"

"Yes. And I'm _furious_ with you, that idiot sage, and our Kage over it too." Kakashi murmered as he crossed his arms over his chest and then asked in a growling tone. "Why didn't any of you assholes see fit to tell me that _Naru_ still lived? Did you think that I would try to take her from you?"

Tsunade's mouth opened and closed a few times before she managed to demand. "Wouldn't you have?" Kakashi glared at her as she started a long rant about how well she knew him. "You think I don't know your personality enough to know that if you had known, you would have come after us and dragged her away from the only family she knew? The only peace of mind anyone had ever given her?"

"Oh shut up you old hag!" Kakashi snapped. Tired already of her righteous indignation.

Who the fuck did she think she was getting pissed at him? Had she spent sleepless nights hovering over Naru after she'd had nightmares as a toddler? Had she arrested and murdered_ twenty_ people in cold blood for daring to lay a hand on that precious little girl when she'd been in trouble?

_No_. Kakashi highly doubted it.

If she had there would certainly be a lack of good nins running about the leaf village.

Had she spent the past ten years throwing birthday parties for a child that she thought was dead? Had she cried herself to sleep year after year over the injustice of having the only family she'd had left- _ripped_ away- again, he didn't think so.

He took a shakey breath to keep himself from expoloding at her and said in a deadly calm voice tinged with bitterness. "You three had ten years. You had ten years of knowing she was alive and well and safe. And you left me with _nothing... _Nothing but memories of a child that no longer exists."

His lips curved up into a sad smile and he suddenly said, "You know, when she was a little girl I used to go and see her everyday, before breakfast- when I knew she wasn't asleep anymore. And around lunch time, I'd take her out of the village and play games with her. Hide and seek, tea parties, house- She used to run up to me and hold her arms out and say, 'hold me, hold me'; and I would pick her up and hold her as close to my chest as I could."

"I didn't care how tired I was. How much pain I was possibly in due to missions. It didn't matter if I had killed or lost comrades. Nothing mattered to me like she did. And the day that Sarutobi removed her from my sight I knew it was the end. I _begged_ him Tsunade, on my knees- Please don't take her away from me. And I felt as if I were dying when he pried her from my grasp and sent her to the orphanange. Where I knew she would be mistreated, and abused."

"I would fall into bed exhausted and think that I could hear her crying and have nightmares. I lost so much sleep that I had to be hospitalized. It felt like my mind was being unraveled. And when Sarutobi came to see me while I was hospitalized all I could think was, I'd rather be dead. Anything was better than knowing what was being done and being unable to stop it."

He looked at her again and without raising his voice even the slightest bit, said. "You had ten years to come clean and you never said anything. What little respect I held for you, and your two idiots is gone. I hope the three of you are damned proud of yourselves because you've ruined everything. _Her. Me_. Whatever life I could have given her if I'd been given the chance... You've ruined it all." He stood up, his chair clattering and almost falling over as he got to his feet.

He gave Tsunade one last scornful look, letting her see how much he hated her and walked off. He needed to get himself back under control before he tried talking to Naru next.


	11. Chapter 11

Kakashi found himself wondering the streets of the town, losing track of time and all else as he tried to calm himself down. But it was so much harder than he had thought it would be. His mind was consumed with thoughts of finding Naru and going rogue.

Grabbing her and running away and trying to start over again.

He didn't give a damn if he would be hunted. Or condemned to death. As far as he was concerned, the village and every damned person in it would be lucky if he didn't appear on some random day or night and _murder_ every fucking one of them.

But deep down inside he knew that if he did take her and run, she would fight him. Because she didn't seem to remember him. Not only that but Tsunade, Sarutobi and Jiriaya would track him down and try to take her from him. And that would lead up to him finally snapping and killing them.

He sighed and stopped walking and let his shoulders slump as he hung his head. God he didn't know what to do. This whole situation- Finding out that Naru was alive, she was his bride to be, finding out about the betrayal of the people he'd semi trusted...

He felt lost. Perhaps even more lost than he'd ever felt before. Yet no matter how lost or uncertain or upset about things he was he lifted his head and started moving again, this time sub conciously seeking Naru out.

He knew that she must be somewhere close by. He didn't know why exactly he thought she was close by, all he knew was that he could almost sense her. He could almost smell her sweet scent. Could almost taste her on his tongue.

He turned at the end of the block and stopped in his tracks when he saw her standing in front of a shop looking through the window with her back to him. Her long blond hair slipping over one of her slender shoulders. Her face reflected in the glass of the window held an expression of awe/amazment.

What was she looking at? He wondered curiously as he tipped his head to the side slightly. His gaze flickered towards the shop sign, Art glass Creations; you dream it, and we'll make it.

_Intriguing._ Kakashi thought. When Naru had been a child she had loved bright, vivid, _beautiful_ colors. Had that same fascination somehow morphed into interest in arts and crafts? Part of him wanted to walk up to her and try and strike up a conversation with her about it and part of him was simply content with standing there, watching her.

Christ he loved to watch her. Always would. Probably always will.

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She could sense soemone watching her. She just didn't care.

She was too busy looking at the bouquet of glass flowers in the vase in one of the display cases. It had to be one of the most beautiful pieces of art she had ever seen before in her life. The glittering colored glass took the shapes of pink lilies, milky white orchids, pale purple bell flowers with little shafts of green here and there in the shapes of stems and leaves.

It was breathtaking how the light hit it. "Oh I wish I could get it." Although she knew Tsunade would pick on her endlessly if she bothered. Still...it was certainly something unique enough to pique her interest enough to make her ignore the person hiding among the throng of people behind her.

And that wasn't really a good thing considering that the person could be an enemy. But since they hadn't made a move yet she continued to play dumb. Just in case. After all people tended to underestimate you when they thought that you were unaware of them.

She stood there looking at the glass flowers for a good twenty minutes or so before the person watching her seemed to decide to come up to the store just a few feet from her- well out of arms reach. She glanced at the person, thinking that he/she gave off a faint sense of familiarity that she hadn't felt since...

Her head started to ache, the dull throbbing morphing to sharp pain as she tried to figure out where she had felt this presence before. But the pain in her head made her forget and the second her mind released hold of the thought of familiarity, the pain vanished. Once again becoming a dull ache as she saw the man from earlier staring into the shop next to her.

He'd moved closer to her when she had been distracted by her headache and now stood so close that their bodies could have brushed together. She blinked at him as he turned his head and looked down at her, his mismatched eyes seeming to notice her startled expression a second before he asked, "You're old head wound bugging ya?"

She opened her mouth to ask him how he knew she had had a head wound that pained her from time to time but then snapped her mouth shut. Knowing damned well that she shouldn't be volunteering any information when he was probably digging. "Weren't you talking to granny?"

"We finished talking."

"Oh well... Buzz off and annoy someone else then."

He looked away from her for a second and asked, "You don't remember me do you?"

And before she could even bother asking him if he was high or something, he snorted and shook his head and answered for her. "No. Of course you don't. Those three assholes are nothing but thorough when they fake someone's death. They probably partially erased your memory of me so that you wouldn't try to run back to the village. To the only person that ever made you feel safe. _God I hate them_."

She blinked at him again and subconsciouly took a step back away from him thinking, _Dear god, granny can pick them. First there was that guy with the grabby hands, then the stalker- and now she's graduated to a full fledged crazy person! Why does she keep hooking up with these losers? Is she trying to kill me? Drive me screaming into the night perhaps? _

She felt a rough hand lightly touch her cheek and jerked away so fast that she slammed herself into the shop window as she found herself jolted out of her thoughts as he dropped his hand back to his side and sighed tiredly. "You should probably head back and lay down. I don't want you passing out in the street because that spear tip in your skull is pressing against something again."

Her jaw dropped open in shock and she gaped at him in wide eyed disbelief. There was no way that he could have known that she had a small piece of a spear tip lodged in her skull just above her right temple. There was no way that he could have gotten the information from Tsunade since Naru had placed a seal on her to keep her from telling. And there was no one else alive that knew about it. So how did he-

"Pull yourself together Naru and just go back to the hotel and lay down like I said."

"B-B-But-"

"No buts. No questions. Just go." He said gently yet firmly, his tone snagging her attention and making her head hurt more. Her legs nearly buckled this time and she suddenly found it hard to breathe. She might have fallen and gotten hurt if not for the fact that the man had reflexes like a cat. And managed to grab her as he sighed and muttered into the top of her head. _"I knew this would happen." _as he pulled her against his chest then leaned down a little bit and slipped an arm around her legs and picked her up.

She felt one large hand against her back, just below her shoulders, the fingers splayed wide, pressing her against his shoulder as he shifted her position a little bit so that her head was resting on his shoulder and just as her vision started to fade she thought she heard him say, _"I'll always protect you Naru. Now rest."_


	12. Chapter 12

Okay the spear tip mentioned in the previous chapter was a childhood wound that she received while protecting Kakashi before she was taken. His chakra was low and he was suffering some broken ribs. When his home was over run by close to twenty people trying to kill little Naru.

One of the people trying to kill her couldn't get close because Kakashi had her pushed behind him and wasn't letting anyone through so he tried to kill Kakashi with his spear, but Naru got in the way and took it in her head. Kakashi freaked thinking that she had really been killed.

People died.

Naru was in serious condition for several weeks while several doctors overseen by Sarutobi tried to get the tip of the spear out of her skull. But it was determined that the metal piece couldn't be removed and would either work it's way out of her body on it's own or it would some day kill her.

After that it was left alone.

(*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Tsunade was sitting in her's and Naru's room when the door slammed open and she jerked around just enough to see Kakashi walk in carrying Naru like he used too when she was a little girl and blanched. "What happened?" She asked in a worried tone as she jumped up off of her bed and ran over to the Copy nin and started to take the blond when he smacked her hands away from Naru and growled, low and threatening.

The sound vibrating in his chest. Indicating that he was still pissed at her and the others for what they had done. And while she understood how he felt, she also felt that he was reacting badly to nothing.

After all if they had told him someone would have figured out by his behavior that she was alive and would have tried to kill her again.

She sighed and stood back out of the way and let him pass and watched him carry Naru over to the other bed and quickly jerk back the covers and then carefully lowered Naru until her back was on the mattress. Then took a moment to remove her shoes before slipping her legs under the blanket and pulling it up over her shoulders.

He sat down on the edge of the bed for a moment, just staring at her and looking very much like he needed someone to tell him what to do next. So Tsunade did... Sort of.

"Do you know what you're going to do now that you know she's alive?" He turned his head a little bit and gave her a nasty glare. Letting her see that he was still upset with her. "You can't take her and run Kakashi-" His glare intinsified and she could almost feel the blood lust rolling off of him in waves.

_Geez this kid. _Tsunade thought in annoyance as she walked over and sat beside him and decided to share a little secret with him.

"We didn't remove her from your care to be cruel, Kakashi. You were fourteen. And we knew how much you loved her. Just like we knew how much she loved you. She took a spear to the head for you for fucks sake! Something had to be done before you _both_ wound up dead. Naru's life was in jeapordy in the village, and you wouldn't have let her go. You relied far too much on her for emotional support. And while we know that you tried your best to give her everything she needed- it was hard on someone who had no prior experience with small children to anticipate everything that she would need."

Kakashi stayed silent, his mismatched eyes boring a hole through her skull. She was right. He hated admitting it. Hell he hated thinking it, but she was right. Though hell would freeze over before he would say anything of the like to her after what she and her dumbass teammates had done.

As far as he was concerned they had done him a grave injustice and he had every right to be pissed at them. They had _stolen_ Naru from him.

He'd only had her for four short years. He'd missed every important event in her life aside from her birth and a few mesely little birthdays. He hadn't been there for those awkward yet entertaining prepubecent years. Her fist crush. Her first kiss-

His mind stopped working altogether for a moment and he subconsciously fisted his hands in his lap as an irrational rage washed over him at the thought of some little skirt chasing pissant_ touching_ his sweet little Naru. On second thought it had probably been a good thing that he hadn't been around for that. Some family would have wound up with a kid missing.

No scratch that. Every male under the age of ninty would have wound up in chains in a storm cellar in his back yard.

He felt Tsunade place one of her hand over his own and blinked as she said gently, "She bears your mark now Kakashi. There will be no taking her from you this time. So please, put your fears, anxieties, and your anger over what happened to rest. We got her for ten years. Now it's time to give her back... She's yours again. So I'll ask one more time, what do you plan to do?"


	13. Chapter 13

Tsunade's question was a valid one. But to be perfectly honest, Kakashi still hadn't figured things out yet. So he had _no_ idea how to answer her. Seeing that he had yet to make up his mind Tsunade reminded him that Naru bore his mark on her body and because of it she could never be taken from him again.

Then she promptly got up off of the bed, collected her things and told him that he and Naru needed a little time and space to re connect and then asked for his room key.

He hesitated fro a second. Wondering if she was going to put itching powder or something among his stuff and reluctantly handed her the room key and watched her go through narrowed eyes. The second the door closed he relaxed a bit and scratched his cheek as he made a mental note to get the sealing scroll out of his bag later and unseal the clothes and stuff that he had safely tucked away inside of it.

Just in case she really did do something to his stuff.

He sighed and hung his head for a moment and felt Naru shift a little bit under the covers and turned his head to look at her and sucked in a ragged breath. Dear god his little girl had grown up to be a beauty. He'd always thought that she would when she was younger and under his care, but to actually see how beautiful she was up close...he almost felt mezmerized by her.

She just looked so- so _otherworldly_. Almost like the fairy's or angel's she used to pretend to be as a child.

He reached out absently and lightly smoothed her silken hair back from her cheek and forehead and had to resist the old urge to flop down on the bed next to her and take a nice long nap with her snuggled against him. If she were still the little girl he remembered he might have done just that.

But since she was a woman now- and obviously didn't recall him or think much of him, he doubted that she would appreciate having someone she didn't know or like crawling in bed with her.

At best he'd be lynched. At worst he'd suddenly have the rep of a pervert and his sterling reputation would take yet another near fatal hit. He debated fro a moment on what was most important to him and gave Naru a sad look before leaning down and kissing her temple then getting up and moving away.

As much as he loved her, he wasn't about to give her an excuse to hate him. Not now that he'd finally found her again. He sat down on the ed across the room and pressed his back against the headboard and crossed his arms over his chest and waited on pins and needles for her to wake up. Despite his outward calm Kakashi was anxious to re connect with his precious person.

He had an hour or so to think about the situation when the full impact of Tsunade's earlier words finally hit him. _Oh heavenly mother of god-_ He had marked Naru as his mate! A slightly hysterical sounding laugh bubbled up in his chest and was stiffled by one of his hands quickly covering his mouth.

Oh shit. What had he done to Naru? And for the love of all that was holy, why had he done it? Why would he have marked an innocent little girl under his protection as his mate? And would he really marry her just to keep her by his side?

It seemed wrong to him. Really, really wrong. _Maybe that was why she was taken from me..._ Maybe Sarutobi and the others had known that if she had stayed in his care much longer something might have happened that could have hurt her_ badly_. Maybe he would have come unhinged- well, more so than he'd been the past few years since they had taken her.

Maybe he could have come unhinged in a huge, and very bad way.

Would he have started abusing her too? The thought sickened him and when he was worried he might puke, he pressed his hand more firmly against his lips. Oddly enough that was how Naru found him when she woke up, with his back against the wall and his hand against his mouth.

Their eyes met for a brief instant and Kakashi took the chance to remove his hand from his lips so that he could give her an awkward sort of wave then got up and ran for the bathroom and slammed the door shut in his haste to get to the toilet.


	14. Chapter 14

Hey! New announcment kittens.

I've removed Pet from lulu (because I have no idea what the hell they want from me. I fixed my story like thirty times and it was _still_ rejected) and so I am now on Kindle under my real name Misty Gewin. Pet is still Pet. So anyone feeling adventurous can check that out.

(*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Naru sat there for a second as the door slammed closed and cringed a little bit. _Well._ She hadn't been expecting that. But then she hadn't exactly been expecting to pass out earlier due to the pain in her head either. But she could recall that before passing out, the man currently hiding out in the bathroom had said something about her old wound. Something that made it seem as if he knew her and about her in more ways than one.

It made her feel nervous and anxious to think that this total stranger that she had never met before knew something about how she had gotten wounded.

Sighing and sending a silent prayer to the gods that the day would end soon and everything would go back to normal, she pushed the covers back and sat up. Frowning a little bit when she noted that someone had taken the time to remove her shoes and tuck her in.

It couldn't have been Tsunade. The woman hadn't taken such care with her person since she was a child.

She glanced towards the bathroom door and frowned a little more before glancing around the room. The first thing she noticed was that it was her's and Tsunade's room. The second thing that she noticed was that her grandmother's things were gone.

She glanced around the room again and scowled this time. She didn't see any signs of anyone else having moved into the room aside from the presence of the man. So...where was her grandmother and what scheme was the woman cooking up for her this time?

The bathroom door opened and the man peeked out from a small crack in the door. "You're awake." He said in a rough tone that was barely above a whisper. She nodded mutely, not sure what else to say or do as he opened the door a little bit wider and stepped out as he tugged at the collar of his shirt. "I didn't expect you to wake up so soon. You usually sleep for a few hours, sometimes even a few days."

"You sound like your up to something." Naru said after a moment as he walked over to the other bed and sat down on it looking a little pale and shakey. Was he sick perhaps? Naru wondered as she waited for him to reply.

"I'm not up to anything Naru. I just don't know _what_ to say to you." He said as he stopped tugging at his shirt collar and rested his elbows on his knees as she moved to sit at the edge of the bed across from him and cocked her head to the side a little bit.

She stared at him for a heartbeat or two and frowned again and pointed out. "What do you mean you don't know what to say to me? Your talking to me now."

He made a small amused sound as his lips quirked. "Hn. So I am..." _But not about any of the important things. _Kakashi mused when Naru finally managed to ask.

"Where's my grandma?"

He looked a little bit taken aback and awkwardly looked around as if expecting her to be in the room before recalling that she was next door. "Ah, right. You would ask that... I think she's in the room next door."

"Why is she there?"

Kakashi weighed the pros and cons of telling Naru that they would be spending some time alone together before hesitantly saying. "Because she wants us to spend a little time together and reconnect." Naru frowned and started chewing on her lower lip. It did Kakashi some good to see that she still had some of her old nervous habits.

"W-What do you mean by 'reconnect'? I don't know you do I?" Naru asked anxiously. He gave her a pointed look and she bit down on her bottom lip so hard that she drew blood. _Holy shit- _This man _knew_ her! As in from before she left the leaf village? She shifted and moved back, swinging her legs over the side of the mattress, her only though was to run for the door or window and to hell with everything else.

The man sat totally still, somehow seeming to sense that her fight or flight instincts were kicking into gear and it puzzled her that he didn't bother moving. Not one damn inch even when she ran all the way across the room and grasped the doorknob in her hand and started to open the door.

He just sat there and watched her as she opened the door and ran out of the room as fast as she could, her panic driving her thoughtlessly out of the hotel and onto the crowded streets.

As soon as she was gone Kakashi released the breath that he'd been holding and stared at the open door. He wished he could say that it didn't bother him that Naru felt such a need to protect herself by running, but it did. Because it was a testament to the fear, pain and horror that she had experienced after being taken from him.

He waited a full ten minutes before standing up, knowing that it would be pointless to go after Naru unless she felt she had done everything in her power to avoid being caught by him. It was just like the game that they had used to play together when she had first learned to walk.

He was the big bad wolf and she was his little fox. He had to track her down and capture her to win his prize.

The only differences in the game this time was that he felt she would use lethal force. His lips curved up slightly as he made his way to the window and pushed it open. It didn't matter though. The rules of the game had changed right along with the two of them. And it didn't matter a whit. He was still determined to capture his fox and win his prize.

And this time he knew exactly what he was going to ask for.


	15. Chapter 15

Hey! New announcment kittens.

I've removed Pet from lulu (because I have no idea what the hell they want from me. I fixed my story like thirty times and it was _still_ rejected) and so I am now on Kindle under my real name Misty Gewin. Pet is still Pet. So anyone feeling adventurous can check that out.

(*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Kakashi's memories of the old games that they had played were part of what had sustained him these past lonely years. He could recall every game, every adventure, every prize he'd ever had or gotten from Naru with crystal clarity. Which was probably why this current situation excited him so much. It had been such a long time since he'd chased her.

And everything that he remembered of their past- and everything he knew of their present was clashing together in his mind.

He _wanted_ his little fox. He was going to catch her and claim his prize and embrace her like he used too. Not because he still saw her as a child, but because he didn't dare ask for anything else. A kiss, even one on the cheek was far too forward. Holding hands was out. It would make them seem like they were lovers.

Like he expected something _more_ from her than a simple embrace. And he didn't want to upset her by giving her the impression that he was a pervert.

Besides it was much too soon for him to ask those things of her. She didn't know him anymore and as much as it pained him to admit even to himself; he didn't really know her anymore either. He no longer knew her favorite colors, her favorite foods, her new hobbies-

_Does she still like chasing butterflies and trying to talk them into going home with her?_ He wondered as he sped across the rooftops. The second the thought crossed his mind, he shook his head wryly and focused on what he was doing as he skidded to a stop and looked down. His fox may have forgotten the game, but some part of her remembered what he'd taught her of evading her enemies.

He could just barely make her out on the streets below as she snagged a scarf and a dress when no one was looking and quickly ducked into an alley and changed before coming back out into the open with the scarf wrapped around her head, partially hiding her long hair and the sleeveless dark and pale blue ruffled calf length dress.

Silly girl. Changing her clothes wouldn't stop him from catching her. It only made him want to catch her sooner so that he could get a better look of her in that stolen dress. From his current vantage point he could only make out how the top clung to the enticing curves of her breasts. And there on one of her shoulders as vivid as the scarlet color of blood, was his mark.

His heart nearly stopped in his chest the second he noticed it as he subconsciously started to track her through the crowd while following along on the roof tops. Keeping his eyes firmly on her figure.

He felt that if he so much as blinked his eye that she would turn to smoke and disappear. _Is this a normal feeling to have?_ He wondered as he moved along the length of the roof and stopped when she stopped. She flattened her back against a brick building across from where he was and looked around as he squatted down and rested his elbows on his knees and watched her.

His new vantage point gave him a better view of Naru and her pilfered clothes. Oddly enough, he felt the dress suited her. The dark and pale blues blended together nicely adding a little bit of a healthy glow to her skin. The scarf that she was using to hide her hair, was oddly flattering to her facial features. He could see everything from the heart shape of her face to the curve of her jaw, hell, he could even see the exotic tilt of her lovely eyes.

She took a moment or so to rest then pushed away from the wall and started moving again. This time taking the back alleys and heading towards the park. Kakashi's eyes narrowed for a second before he managed to tear himself away from the roof ledge so that he could get around in front of her. And was waiting for her in the branches of a blosseming sakura tree by the time she reached the park.

He'd been drumming his fingers on the trnk of the tree when he caught sight of her again and waited until just the right moment when she was passing under him to jump down and grab her. He locked his arms around her causing her to gasp then yelp as he buried his face against her nape and muttered. "I caught you, fox."

Naru stiffened a bit in his arms and grasped his wrists in her hands and for a second dug her sharp little nails into his skin then stopped. Curious about what she was up too, he lifted his head a little bit and let her tip hers back until the back of her head rested against his chest. "Fox?"

He hummed and nodded and smiled a little bit when he saw the faint flicker of recognition that crossed her face a moment before she asked, "Wolf?"

"Yes fox, what is it?" He asked and felt torn between laughing and crying when she finally said.

"You took an aweful long time to find me."

"I know. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long." Kakashi said as he lifted his arms a little bit and draped them around her slender shoulders and rested his cheek on the top of her head.


	16. Chapter 16

Kakashi was unsure of how long he had embraced her but after a little while she tugged on his shirt sleeve and asked, "Can we go back to the hotel and talk?" He hummed and reluctantly released her, dropping his arms back to his sides before saying.

"Are you actually going to talk to me or tell me to buzz off like yesterday?" She cringed a little bit and he chuckled as she muttered.

"Well, yesterday I didn't know it was you. I just thought you were some drunken pervert... I have to kick you in the shins for stealing that kiss too."

Kakashi sombered up and blinked at her. _She what?_ He wondered, confused, as she kicked him in the shin. He bit back a yelp and tried his best not to hop around as his leg nearly went out from under him and automatically reached out and grabbed her and pulled her against his side just to keep his balance.

"Hey! What are you-" Naru started to say as he slipped an arm around her shoulders and leaned into her heavily. Nearly sending them both tumbling to the ground before Naru seemed to man up and take his weight without complaint as he hissed.

"You kicked me so you're going to act as my crutch."

"Well I wouldn't have kicked you if you hadn't have kissed me!" Naru hissed back at him as she took a shakey step. He snorted and used the hand draped over her shoulders to push her head back and leaned down like he was going to kiss her again. Naru stiffened, flushed and got a really interesting look on her face as he paused just a hairsbreath from her lips and smirked evilly.

"You liked it."

She turned a deeper shade of pink and made a strangled sound before nearly shouting, "No I didn't! I washed my mouth off with soap!" _Oh ow. _Kakashi thought as he pulled away from her a little bit and sighed and said.

"I don't think I can walk now that my ego has been dealt such a blow-" He let his legs buckle as he gripped her tightly around the neck and said in a mock whining tone, "Carry me."

However knowing that he was far too heavy for her to carry, he loosened his grip around her neck just enough to keep from choking her yet still somehow managed to drag her down with him. Naru shrieked as she lost her balance and fell on top of him. Knocking the breath from his lungs as she hit him.

He grunted and partially doubled over and wrapped his arms around her and lay there trying hard to catch his breath while his shoulder shook with mirth. Ah it had been ages since he'd last laughed after having the breath knocked out of him by his fox. He'd missed this feeling of happiness. Really he had. "Do you really remember me now?" He asked as he sobered. Part of him worried that she may somehow manage to forget him again.

"I remember enough I guess. I remember I used to run up to wolf when I was a toddler and tell the Hokage that one day I was going to marry you..." She said as she lifted her head a little bit to look at him, her face a nice shade of red as she suddenly looked a little bit uneasy. He started to chuckle at her, but stopped when he realised what she'd just said.

Oh crap. She really had done that as a tot. He'd sort of forgotten about those incidents until she had mentioned them.

Though he'd never understood why she would say such a thing, in a warped way it made sense. She'd deemed him her mate and he had done the same although it had been more of a subconscious thing with him. Whereas she had been very up front and frank about what she'd wanted.

He however had dismissed her words as nothing more than a child being a child. But what if she had been serious and he'd somehow picked up on that? Could that be why she now wore his mark? He wondered as he helped her up before sitting up himself. "Ahh, we need to sit down and have a serious talk." He said as he pushed his fingers through his silver hair suddenly feeling anxious.

"You mean about the mark and what it means?" Naru asked quietly. He nodded his head curtly and watched her slowly withdraw into herself, her expression blank and unreadable.

"Look Naru, I know that you don't like this-" He started to say, but stopped when his words failed him. He just didn't know what to say to her. "Uh...lets go back to the hotel and catch up before we talk about that."

"You're going to put it off?"

"I just found you again after ten years. I refuse to speak of something that very well might cause you to leave me again. We'll talk about it when _you're_ ready and not a moment before." Naru opened her mouth as if to argue and Kakashi put his fingers against her lips and growled. "_Not. A. Moment. Before_."

He felt her closed her mouth and let her draw back away from him and stand up and quickly got to his feet and grasped her hand, subconsciously lacing their fingers together as they started making their way back towards town.


	17. Chapter 17

Kakashi kept his word once they were back at the hotel. He didn't speak of marriage, or the mark that he'd placed on her. He had other things on his mind. Like reconnecting with Naru and telling ten years worth of stories about what he had been up too since she had 'died'.

The two sat down on the floor and just started talking. Before long the room started to darken and Kakashi switched on a few lights then sat back down and wrapped his arms around Naru's shoulders and continued to speak.

They lost track of time. Talking from one hour to the next then to the one after that, trying to cover anything and _everything_ that they could think of ranging from jokes, to mission exploits (though Kakashi was a little bit relieved to hear that though Naru was trained as a nin, she had never been given a formal rank or anything) which was good.

It would buy them time to fully avoid the wrath of the council and other nins if he ever managed to convince Naru to return to the village with him. And if he couldn't convince her to come back to the village then he would resign as a nin, and live out the rest of his days with Naru, traveling from place to place if that was what made her happy.

Finally just before dawn the two had run out of things to talk about and just leaned against each other, tired and dozing from staying up all night talking. Kakashi's cheek resting against the top of Naru's head. And Naru's head resting on his shoulder.

Which was how Tsunade found the two sometime after noon when she came by the room to check on Naru and make sure that she hadn't killed Kakashi or something. The woman had pushed the door open and peeked in warily and stopped altogether when she saw the two leaning against each other, sound asleep under the window.

"Tsk, these two kids... They were meant for each other." She muttered to herself before she saw Kakashi's hand shift and reach for one of his discarded shoes. He picked it up and threw it at the door, causing Tsunade to retreat as it hit the wood with a dull thud then fell to the floor.

Kakashi lifted his head a bit, the thud piercing through the fog in his mind enough to semi wake him so that he could scan the room for intruders before grunting softly and muttering, _"Weird."_ He lay his cheek back against the downy softness of Naru's hair and closed his eyes and let himself slip back into a light doze.

But he woke up again an hour or so later when Naru started to stir and moved subtely away from his side nearly causing him to fall over sideways on top of her. He grunted and jerked himself upright as he opened his eyes and looked around the room, again looking for some sort of threat before focusing on Naru. "Mmm, mornin."

"Morn-ing, wolf." Naru said around a yawn before she rubbed her eyes. Kakashi's lips quirked a bit at her pet name for him. It must still be a habit for her to call him 'wolf' instead of Kakashi.

_How odd. _He mused as he stretched his arms up over his head and then popped his neck, back and rolled his shoulders a few times to work out the stiffness that had settled in them from not sleeping properly. "Are you hungry, Naru?" He asked as he sighed and settled his back against the wall again.

She shook her head and started to get up when he reached out and slipped an arm around her slender waist and pulled her down into his lap and nuzzled her cheek. Then let her go so that she could do whatever it was that she needed to do.

She disappeared into the bathroom for several minutes then came back out and flopped down next to him and leaned against his side like she had earlier. "I'm not hungry but if you want to eat then I'll sit with you."

"Hn. Sounds like you just asked me out on a breakfast date." Kakashi said absently.

Naru looked startled for a second then blushed. "I've never heard of a breakfast date before."

"Have you ever been out on a date period?" Kakashi asked curiously. Naru tipped her head back and looked at him wide eyed and shook her head again.

"No."

"Ah, then this will be a novelty experience for you then." He said happily as he gave her cheek a quick peck before gracefully getting to his feet and chirping. "Get dressed fox, I'm not going on a breakfast date with you if you aren't decent!"


	18. Chapter 18

Kakashi waited patiently for Naru to shower and get dressed and was totally _floored_ by her the moment he saw the bathroom door crack, letting out some of the mist as Naru walked out of the small room wearing an short sleeved lavender purple and sky blue butterfly print shirt and a lavender skirt with some small heels. Her damp silver blonde hair was pulled back into a twist held in place by a hair clip at the back of her head.

Some of the strands escaping the clip to frame her face, cutely. Kakashi stared at her with his mouth hanging open in shock as she turned her head to look at him. She wasn't wearing any makeup that he could detect.

No blush, no eye shadow, no lipstick or gloss. There was nothing on her skin that should have made her look so- so _appealing_ to him. Yet strangely enough that's exactly how she looked. Appealing. Very much so.

"Do I look okay?" Naru asked shyly as she looked down at herself.

"Am- Ghwa ha-" Kakashi said unintelligibly, wanting to tell her that she looked wonderful-beautiful-lovely. Yet was completely unaware that he was starting to look really weird to Naru just standing there looking shocked and speaking an alien language.

"Are you drooling?" She asked in a slightly amused tone as she saw a small bit of drool escape the corner of his mouth and bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing as he hastily wiped the little bit of drool away with the back of one hand and flushed a vivid red before saying in a rough tone.

"Sorry. I'm just _really_ hungry." Although he wasn't exactly hungry for food anymore. Not that he could tell her that, she might kick his ass and refuse to speak to him for a long time if he did.

"Oh so I kept you waiting too long. I'm sorry." Naru said, some of her amusement fading as he shook his head and waved her apology off. There was no need for her to apologize over something so silly. He walked over to her and snagged her wrist and ignored the odd jolt that ran down his arm from his hand upon making contact with her skin and asked.

"Are you done getting ready?"

"Uh...yeah I think so."

"Awesome, lets go before I flood the room." He said half jokingly and cringed a little bit when he looked back at her and caught the _Ew_ look on her face and stopped at the door and turned around to look at her and said, "I'm sorry Naru. I'm not usually so- uh, freakish that I drool on random things or because of random things. In fact I'm very proud to say that I haven't done something so embarrassing since the last time I got drunk and chased Gai through the village singing the 'girlfriend' song in nothing but my bare naked skin... No wait. I shouldn't have said that." He said as he looked slightly more embarrassed than he had a moment ago and suddenly stopped talking.

Naru stood there in absolute silence for a moment before clapping her hands together in front of both of their faces to break the silence and said, "Hn. Blackmail material. How nice."

Kakashi sputtered for a second and then looked away as she sighed and said, "I get what you're trying to say to me Kakashi. So you don't have to explain yourself. This is a bit awkward for both of us... And I'm well aware of your drooling habits. You used to slober all over me when we slept in the same bed together when I was little-"

He gave her a wide eyed shocked look as she grasped the door knob in her hand and turned it so that the door opened and then looked at him expectantly. "Now about this breakfast date. Are we going or not?"

"Uh...y-yeah. Sure. Lead the way." Kakashi said awkwardly as he used his free hand to rub the back of his neck as she stepped out of the room in front of him. Giving him an excellent view of the mark on the back of her shoulder as she tugged on his hand to get him to move.

His heart thudded against his ribs as his mouth went dry and he felt an off mixture of emotions, both negitive and positive, swell within him. Shit, he really wished he hadn't seen the mark. At least not this soon since he could already feel something tugging at his mind when he looked at it.

But since he had-

"What are you doing wolf?" Naru's voice snapped him out of his thoughts to find that the fingers of his free hand were sort of moving her shirt collar out of the way so that more of the skin around the mark was exposed. He blinked and abruptly released her shirt so that it could move back into place and bit his lower lip.

What the hell had he been doing? He wondered as he stuffed his hand into his pants pocket to keep himself from doing something weird again.


	19. Chapter 19

Wolf was acting funny, Naru noted as she felt him lean down a little bit behind her and sniff her nape, and tried not to stiffen as she sat down in the seat he'd pulled out for her. "Wolf?" She said his pet name in a warning tone and felt him automatically move back before muttering in a frustrated tone.

"_Dammit_, why do I keep doing that?" _A good question. _She thought as she sighed.

And waited as he walked around the table and sat down and gave her a bashful look as he picked up one of the menu's sitting on his side of the table and offered one to her. She took it despite the fact that she still wasn't hungry and pretended to look it over figuring that if nothing else, having her look _might_ appease him a little bit. He closed his menu and propped his chin up in his palm and studied her for a moment before asking. "Do you know what you want Naru?"

She hummed and scanned the menu then closed it and said, "A glass of milk and another of juice."

"And to eat? What are you having?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"I'm still not hungry so eating now would be pointless." Naru said as she closed her menu and started to set it aside when she heard him growl as he reached out and grasped her hand and stopped her.

"You need to eat." He said sternly.

"I'm not hungry."

"I don't care fox. You're eating something even if I have to force it down your throat." He said in a rough tone, his expression unreadable though he gave off the impression that he was both concerned and a touch angry with her.

"I'm not a child wolf, you can't make me eat if I don't want too."

"Says the woman who has no common sense." Kakashi muttered darkly. He saw Naru's expression darken a bit with irritation before he felt her chakra spike to match her temper.

"You know wolf-"

"Kakashi."

"What?"

"My name is Kakashi. As you said just a moment ago, you aren't a child so stop calling me wolf and call me by my given name."

"I'll call you dumbass if that's what I feel like calling you-" Naru growled at him as she jerked her hand from his grasp and snapped, "And since your in such a wonderful mood, you can just eat your damned food alone!" She moved to get up while he blinked at her a second before he shot to his feet, knocking his chair over in his haste and started to follow her.

Intending to get her back in her seat and end all arguments about whether or not she would eat ASAP. He followed her out of the lobbey and all the way back to their room where he finally managed to corner her while she was packing her things.

His stomach knotted painfully as he stared down at her things in disbelief. She was trying to leave him again. Why? Why would she feel the need to try and leave him again after such a small argument? He didn't understand. All he had been doing was expression some concern for her well being.

After all when she'd been a little girl she had developed an eating disorder and had spent so much time in the hospital that he had thought she would die. For all he knew that hadn't changed. Well okay that wasn't necessarily true.

Something _had_ changed. She looked much healthier than she used too but still her refusal to eat had frightened him enough to cause the argument between them. But that was no reason for her to start packing her things. That was no reason to leave. "Naru?"

"Go away."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to talk to you anymore."

He flinched a little bit at the cold tone she used with her words and for a moment wasn't sure what to do. This was unacceptable to him, yet he wasn't sure how to deal with the situation aside from tying her to the bed and keeping her there by force. But that was also unacceptable which left only one thing left. He'd have to bend her to his will by taking the fight right out of her.

He grabbed her as she came out of the bathroom carrying some of her things and pushed her back against the wall and waited until she opened her mouth to say something undoubtedly scathing to him and trapped her there as he captured her lips with his own.

The jolt of lust he felt at the softness of her lips touching his own was totally unexpected. And though it was something that would usually have him pulling back and possibly even apologizing for being an oaf, but for once he surrended himself to the sensation. He heard the faint sound of Naru's things clattering to the floor at their feet and made a soft sound in the back of his throat as he slanted his mouth over hers and deepened the kiss.

Naru was no doubt in shock at the moment since she wasn't struggling or making any immediate moves to push him away.

He pulled away several moments later so that they could both breathe and rested his forehead against her own and looked her over as he ran the pad of his thumb along her lips. Wiping away some of his saliva as he took in her expression.

He'd never seen someone with such an shocked expression before. She opened her mouth a little bit to say something but then snapped her mouth closed again and just stood there even as he moved to kneel down and pick up her things and carried them back into the bathroom. When he came out a second or so later, Naru seemed a little bit more composed.

She looked a bit confused but a few choice words from him seemed to clear up everything. "Please don't ever leave me Naru."


	20. Chapter 20

Sorry I haven't been writing much these past few days. My grandmother finally passed away on leap year, the 29th at 5:02 pm.

And my mom and a few others aren't taking it well.

The funeral is tomorrow at 2. And today I'll be up at the funeral home for the viewing most of the day so this may be the only thing I write today. Depending on how tired I'll be once I'm home.

So...sorry...

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Naru wasn't sure how to react to his words. Nor did she know how to react to the pain and sorrow she heard in his tone. On one hand she wanted to tell him that she hadn't been packing so that she could leave. She'd been packing because it was an angry habit she'd developed after coming into Tsunades care.

The woman had been so infuriating at first that Naru had packed her bags to run away almost daily for the first three to six months. After that it had simply become a habit that she fell back on to express her displeasure.

But that didn't mean that she was planning to go anywhere.

Then again after the way he'd acted maybe letting him think that she'd been about to leave him would make him straighten himself out. She mused as he picked up her backpack and dumped all of her stuff out on her bed then threw the empty pack out the window.

Her eye twitched a little bit in annoyance, and it was on the tip of her tongue to ask him why he had done that when it occurred to her that it was his way of making sure she didn't try to leave him.

After all even if she did try to leave she wouldn't get far carrying her things in her arms, now would she? It was on the tip of her tongue to growl at him to go get her backpack now when she saw that a lacey piece of her panties had somehow attached itself to Wolf- er Kakashi- she meant Kakashi.

Anyways her panties had somehow attached themselves to one of his fingernails or something while he had been putting her stuff away. And upon noticing it he turned a vivid red and started to frantically shake his hand in an effort to dislodge it, then stopped and looked over his shoulder at her, his expression very embarrassed before he resumed his frantic hand shaking.

Then once he finally got it off of his fingernail he found it had somehow attached itself to the tiny nob on his watch and made a low growling sound.

Oh this was just wrong on _so_ many levels.

_I can get panties off of a woman, but I can't dislodge them when their attached to me. How pathetic can a grown man be? _Kakashi thought darkly as he tried once again to shake the lacey panties free, another irritated growl escaping his throat before he turned his head and looked at Naru again. Some part of his mind telling him that he shouldn't be messing with Naru's delicates even by accident.

She might punch him in the back of the head or something. However when he looked back, she was right where she had been when he had kissed her. Her eyes still wide, her face still slightly flushed. He looked away again and lifted his wrist up to his mouth to see if he could chew the damned panties off of him when Naru finally managed to speak.

"You drool on them and they will be yours from now on." He stopped cold with his wrist half way to his mouth and weighed the pros and cons. On one hand he felt sort of uncomfortable with the thought of possibly owning a pair of panties that Naru had probably worn at some point or another.

And on the other hand...some dark part of him was secretly _thrilled_ by the prospect of owning a pair of her panties. He sighed and lifted his hands to hide his face for a moment and managed to catch Naru's scent clinging to the clean fabric and then quickly dropped his hands away from his face and looked back at her.

The least he could do is ask her permission, right? "Would you hate me if I kept these?"

"No. Not as long as I don't know what you do with them. And only if you replace them." Kakashi nodded silently as his mind spun with the possibilities Naru's innocent reply had just conjured.

"Let me get these off of my watch and then we'll eat and I'll take you out shopping for a new pair to replace these." Kakashi said in a resigned tone. Naru said nothing as she leaned back against the wall and crossed her arms under her breasts and watched him mess around for a second or so before he made a barking like sound of triumph as the panties came off of his watch.

He set the panties down on the bed as he stood up and ran across the room and grabbed one of her wrists and pulled her towards the door saying. "Quick! Lets go before one of you're bras decides to attach itself to me too!"

Naru snorted in amusement despite the fact that he wasn't really joking and followed him out the door anyways.


	21. Chapter 21

Lola- Has anyone ever told you to mind your own buisness? Cause if not I think it's time someone finally did.

What I write, when I write, and _why _I write down every idea that comes to mind- are none of your concern.

I can excercise my creativity any damned way I like. And FYI, Kakashi's is super cool in every story I read. Do you know how hard it is to keep him in character and work in other aspects of his personality that have never been seen before?

I like shy Kakashi. Awkward Kakashi. Sarcastic Kakashi. And even animalistic Kakashi. These parts of his personality are rarely displayed and deserve to be explored as well as his super cool side. Because without them, he's just another horribly _boring _character that looks cute in a mask.

As for Naru, she isn't always weak. You're just make judgments before exploring the possibilities fully.

Furthermore I don't appreciate you saying that I'm a _nuisance_ just because I'm creative. Especially during the difficult time I've been having lately; so fuck off.

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After a quick breakfast (which Naru actually ate without complaint this time) Kakashi led her out of the hotel and into the semi crowded streets intending to keep his promise about buying her some new panties to replace the pair that he now owned. They walked out of the bustling buisness district of the town.

And into the shopping district where Kakashi subconsciously took her hand in his, to keep her close, as they wove their way in and out from between the people littering the streets.

They walked for what must have been twenty minutes or more trying to work their way to their destination while trying to ignore the way their bodies occasionally brushed up against one another. Naru's shoulder brushed against Kakashi's bicep causing goosebumps to raise along the skin of his arm.

He looked down at her from the corner of his eye and wondered what was going through her mind at this exact moment.

Naru felt a little odd about holding hands with her wolf. Sure holding hands had been fine when she'd been a tyke but that was considerably different from holding hands now that she was an adult. She glanced up at Wolf-er Kakashi- _damn!_

Why did she keep thinking of him as Wolf instead of Kakashi?

It just didn't make any sense. Sure, Wolf was one of the most physically beautiful men she'd ever seen with his fallen angel beauty, and those eerie wolf like clever/savage/adoring mismatched eyes. But things like outward appearances had never made her feel subconscious before.

So it had to be something else that was causing the peculiar fluttering sensation in her stomach. Right?

_Well look at you stealing glances from the corner of your eyes like some kid with his first crush. _Kakashi thought as they walked. The crowd thinned a little bit around the time they reached the shops. Mainly because only one or two of the stores were open at this early hour.

Kakashi stopped walking outside the shop he'd been planning to buy her new panties at and glanced at his watch. It was fifteen to opening. Which meant that they had a few minutes to kill. _Awesome. Now I have to fill the silence with awkward conversation. _Kakashi thought as he dropped his hand for a moment and then looked down at Naru who was leaning against the building next to him, looking bored.

He let go of her hand and slipped an arm around her shoulders and sort of pulled her up against his side. "We have fifteen minutes to kill."

"Okay."

"Do you wanna talk?"

"Not really."

_Oh thank god. _Kakashi thought in releif as he leaned his head down a little bit and kissed the top of her head. "Wolf... Do you know what it's like to like someone?" Naru suddenly asked in a tentative tone.

He blinked and looked down, trying to see her expression but couldn't. Her hair was in the way. But he could tell from her tone that this was something that bothered her a bit. Though he didn't understand why. "Well that's a good question, I guess. But I'm not terribly sure which sort of 'like' you want to know about." He said gently.

"The kind that causes fluttering in your stomach."

Kakashi jerked his head up so quickly that he hit it on the beige colored brick wall behind him and hissed both in pain and in annoyance as he said. _"Ohhh."_

Well that was a mite more specific. But he didn't want to touch this subject with a fifty foot pole. It felt...well, _weird _to even be talking about this subject with her even in passing. And then there was the fact that he didn't know what he'd do if he found out that she liked someone. It would make him feel as if someone were stealing her from him all over again.

Still some part of him couldn't help but feel curious about why she would bring the subject of attration up in the first place. If nothing else he'd learn something new along with who's kneecaps he was going break later on. "Is there someone that you get that fluttering feeling from Naru?"

"Before I answer- Could you tell me what the fluttering feeling means?"

He blinked. She was kidding right. Everyone from the age of five and up knew what that fluttering feeling in their stomach meant when they like _liked_ someone. He stared down at her for a moment trying to gauge whether or not she was joking and gave up when she gave him a confused look. _Oh dear god in heaven- _She really didn't understand!

She had been in the care of one of the legendary medic nins in the known world and didn't even understand the most basic of human biological urges! He wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry at this point.

But he could certainly understand where she was coming from now. He sighed and used one hand to partially cover his face and rasped in an gruff sounding tone. "Okay. I get it. Tell me when you started to feel this 'fluttering' feeling and I'll do my best to explain what you don't know."

"I get that feeling when you hold my hand." Naru said almost shyly and Kakashi dropped his hand away from his face and turned his head so that he could give her a slightly panicked look and could have kicked himself when Naru looked down at her feet and asked in a small voice. "Is that a bad thing?"

Kakashi was too stunned to speak. Let alone answer her question so instead he simply grasped one of her hands and slipped it under his shirt and pressed it against his stomach to let her feel what her presence had been doing to him all morning. And was a little bit startled when he felt her arm jerk in his grasp and looked down at her to see the sweetly curious look on her face as she felt the peculiar fluttering sensation centered around his abdomen.

"You too?" Naru asked innocently.

He nodded his head and rasped. "Yeah."

"What does it mean?"

"It means that I'm going to be holding you're hand and kissing you a lot more in the near future."

"Oh." Naru said before they settled into a comfortable silence.


	22. Chapter 22

Sorry that this chapter of Fate is so short but I'm going to the hospital today.

My best friend of the past twenty something years is going through a hard time with her mother who was admitted to the hospital a day or so ago. However the doctors fucked up. And they fucked up bad because last night they told Robin that her mother's kidneys and heart were _all_ shutting down.

So my parents and I are going to go see Robin's mom before anything else happens.

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Once the store opened and they went inside, Kakashi felt as if he had just stepped into shark infested waters. Everything was a splash of color with either a pattern on it or ribbons and lace. But what really scared him was the crotchless panties display.

He made a half groan, half growling sound and lifted his hand to cover his nose and mouth and pinched his nostrils closed because he felt blood starting to slowly trickle out. "Naru!" He called softly, trying his hardest not to make an ass out of himself.

Naru looked away from the display she'd been looking at and turned her head to look at him with a curious look on his face as he walked up behind her with his hand still over his nose and mouth and said in a growling sound, "Stay away from the crtochless stuff. It all looks _very_ questionable."

She turned her head to look at him and found him standing right behind her with his hand over his nose and mouth and was about to jokingly ask him if he was planning to rob the place when it occurred to her that he might be getting a nose bleed from being over stimulated. After all he was a healthy young man. In a panties store.

For all she knew his mind was going crazy with different fantasies about how the panties could be used and who could wear them. She blushed herself at the thought of him fantasizing about something.

And didn't realize that he wasn't behind her anymore until she looked over her shoulder and found him standing at a very _risque_ display with an odd look on his face before she heard him say, "Holy shit. Anko would love that." Curious she glanced towards the display and automatically turned red as her hold on the pair of panties in her hands tightened dangerously.

Holy shit was right.

The display Kakashi was looking at was one of black leather with small spikes around the waist band area and a zipper that went from front to back along the crotch and was decorated with little chains here and there. And Kakashi was walking little cicles around it as if mezmerised, checking it out from all angles.

_Oh you stupid, stupid man. _Naru thought in irritation figuring that 1) since Wolf had already been more or less stupid enough to dig his own grave, she could see how deep he managed to dig himself. Or 2) she could forget about the fact that he had mentioned this Anko person in her presence and kill him later.

Frankly she wasn't the forgiving type. And choice number one could prove amusing as she asked in a sickly sweet tone that got his undivided attention. "Wolf... Who's Anko?" Kakashi gave her a wide eyed look and paled a little bit.

Oh shit.


	23. Chapter 23

Thank you to those of you who sent your well wishes for my friends mother, however they were told today that if they did anything more to her she was going to die. And because they fouled up so badly, there is no reversing the effects on her organs.

Robin's mother has chosen to come home and live what little time she has left with her family. I'm not sure about the time span they have given her. My parents refused to say anything about it. But with her kidneys involved and no dialysis, her fate is pretty much sealed.

It will be sudden. And if there's a god; painless.

But that doesn't stop me from worrying about Robin. Especially with her bastard of a father around. (***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

_Oh shit._ _I'm in trouble._ Kakashi thought uneasily as it occurred to him that Naru had been paying attention enough to have heard him. She put the pair of panties in her hand down and then turned to look at him completely, her expression so dark that it bordered on demonic.

Was that the green eyed monster he spied in her expression?

Or was she merely feeling a tad bit possessive of him because he was her childhood caretaker? He wondered as she crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down. Obviously waiting for him to reply. "W-What?" He asked in a strained/panicked sounding tone.

"Who is Anko?" Naru asked again, this time slower. As if he'd had trouble hearing her the first time. It was on the tip of his tongue to growl at her that Anko was no one. But he knew that _that_ was a damned lie.

So there was no way that she wouldn't know.

Besides he was already giving himself away by suddenly fidgetting with the hem of his shirt with his free hand.

He didn't want to tell her about how after he'd thought she'd died Anko had been assigned to him to keep him from committing suicide. He'd hated the woman. Hated her damned hovering. Everything about her had grated on his nerves. Especially when he felt like inflicting harm upon himself.

But everytime he'd started to try to cut his wrists or take pills- that annoyingly chipper woman had been right fucking there.

She'd taken his razors, knives, his ninja wires- anything at all that could have been used to kill himself. She had emptied out his medicine cabinets. She had taken all the fun out of trying to kill himself. And since he refused to open up and talk Anko suggested another form of communication.

It wasn't something that he was proud of. After all sharing his bed with the village slut wasn't as much fun as one may think. But once he'd worked through everything Anko had left and he'd never really had to associate with her again aside from missions. But in the past few years he'd noticed a disturbing trend in bumping into her while he was out.

And there were rumors circulating in the village that Anko had her eye on the position of being Lady Hatake. But that would never happen. Kakashi would kill her before he married her. History or not, the position of Lady Hatake was already filled. He was about to say something when he heard Naru say, "Ah, she's you're lover." Snapping him out of his thoughts quickly enough to protest.

"No she isn't! She's not my anything!"

"Then you two used to fuck." It wasn't a question. Merely an observation. He cringed a little bit and asked.

"Do you love her?" His response was automatic. His tone firm and leaving no room for argument.

"_No_. I don't even like her."

"What a cruel thing to say about one of your ex lovers. Are you like that with everyone?" She was fishing for something now. Kakashi could tell by the curiosity in her tone. He narrowed his eyes at her and dropped his other hand away from his face and moved to stand right in front of her, their chests almost touching as he grasped her head in his hands and lowered his head a little bit and growled in a breathless tone.

"_Not with you-_" He could never be that way with her. She meant far too much to him for him to be so cold and cruel with her. He lowered his head a fraction of an inch more until he felt his lips brushing against hers and growled. "_Never with you_." Naru's breath hitched as her eyes widened a bit and he was sorely tempted to kiss her until she swooned but now was neither the time nor the place.

"Get what you want Naru. I'll wait outside for you." He said in a gentler tone as he dug out his wallet and pressed it into her hands as he leaned in a little bit more and kissed the corner of her mouth before vanishing like a phantom. Leaving Naru standing there on weak legs, blinking at the empty space he'd occupied only moments before.


	24. Chapter 24

Ok, quick update on my friend's mother then I'll write some more Fate.

The hospital fucked up royally and litterally killed Velma. Her heart stopped, and for a while they couldn't get her back. Robin had to be sedated, heavily, because she couldn't stand seeing her mother dead in the ER.

So finally the doctors managed to get Velma's heart to function again. However she was unable to breathe on her own and suffered brain damage. She was in the ICU for almost a week and Robin has decided that since her mother is going to die anyways that she'll get her out of the hospital and bring her home.

I've been asked to go to the house and help with Velma just in case Robin needs to go to work or something. So I'll let you know when I start that.

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Naru wasn't sure what to think of Kakashi's reaction when she'd asked who Anko was, but she seemed to have touched on a rather _touche_ subject if his behavior a few moments ago were any indication at all.

She scratched her cheek and wondered if she should maybe apologize to him for asking. After all, it wasn't like she was dating him so his past sexual history and such were really _none_ of her business.

In fact it had been rude of her to even ask. But she hadn't been able to help herself. The second he'd said the other woman's name an unnatural surge of anger had raced through her mind, causing a painful ache in the center of her chest. _Jealousy. _She was actually jealous of the fact that he was there with her physically, yet his mind wasn't.

These things shouldn't have even mattered to her in the first place. But strangely they did. Shaking her head as if to clear it, she shoved the thoughts from before aside and looked down at the wallet in her hand and bared her teeth. Whatever she may think of him-

She did think him an idiot for handing her his wallet without setting proper boundries or cluing her in on how much she could spend.

Especially since she could easily turn _vindictive_ and decide to spend every cent in it. Though she didn't necessarily think that she was that type of person. Still... Why tempt fate? Sighing she grabbed the pair of panties she'd found the most likable and headed towards the register.

She quickly purchased what Kakashi owed her, making sure that the price was reasonable so that he wouldn't feel cheated and then headed towards the door.

Kakashi had been standing with his shoulders resting against the building next to the door when Naru came out and tossed his wallet to him without looking. He caught it and looked at her when she growled at him.

"Never give your wallet to an upset woman. You'll pay for it later if you trust people so blindly."

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that he didn't trust people at all since his job entailed a certain amount of paranoia just to stay alive. However he stopped himself just shy of actually voicing his thoughts since he trusted Naru without question. That was merely the way his relationship with her worked.

It had been so since the beginning, when she had been a child. And it was the way he felt even now.

He had felt that since she was going to grow up a child that no one trusted that his unquestionable trust in her. And her actions. As well as _who_ she would one day become, was necessary. Otherwise she would have wound up becoming another Itachi.

Trusting and caring for no one. With no hope or faith or love.

His grip on his wallet tightened a little bit as his chest ached, making it a little hard for him to breathe as he automatically fell into step behind her. "But I have always trusted you blindly." Kakashi finally said, a faint smile curving his lips.

Naru's steps faltered a bit and she turned her head to look back at him over her shoulder, her expression blank. Though the blush gave her thoughts away.

Ah, he'd just embarrassed her. How odd. She'd never been embarrassed by his honesty before. "You shouldn't say such things Wolf. I doubt that I could live up to your expectations of me now." Naru said as she started to pick up her pace. Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly at her back but continued to follow her.

It took several seconds of hard staring but finally he realised that he'd misread her.

It wasn't necessarily embarrassment she was feeling. It was _agitation. _

He could read it easily in her body language, by the way she moved as she walked. She was deeply disturbed by his honesty and was trying to put some distance between them, practically throwing people out of her way as she went.

He fell back a little in shock of her actions, to give her some room to calm down as he helped a few people back up to their feet, without taking his eyes from her. All the while wondering what it was that she was thinking.

How could she not think that she would live up to his expectations of her? Had she done something that she felt was unforgiveable? And if so what was it that she had done? Whatever it was- it didn't matter to him.

He was incapable of thinking any less of her. Just like he was incapable of hating her for_ who_ and _what_ she was.


	25. Chapter 25

Okay- long time no see.

Sorry that I haven't been updating like usual but I've been sick off and on for the past five weeks due to my seizure medicine. So much so that my mom was getting weird giddy. (I'm sure that you can guess why) And my hubby was pulling his hair out when ever I wasn't looking- thinking that I was pregnant.

And the whole time this is going on I've been semi bed ridden with new story ideas for Bleach, TMNT, Naruto exct. And it's been killing me.

So... I've modified my medicine just a little bit to see if that helps keep me from being sick.

Also a brief announcement about Robin's mom. To those of you who prayed for her, it must be working. The doctors took her off of the oxygen and have said that for a dying woman she has more than enough energy to run a marathon or two.

She's doing wonderful. So thank you.

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Tsunade had been bored ever since she had seen Kakashi and Naru leave the hotel first thing this morning and after eating a few parfaites, some fruite, and sending several annoying men through the wall...well, she had had just about all she could take of boredom.

She wanted to go track down her granddaughter and see how things were progressing between her and Kakashi. Maybe help them along by playing cupid if need be. She chewed on the straw in her mouth in frustration and sighed as she sat back in her seat.

But of course doing something like playing cupid for the two would be the same as taking her life into her own hands. Especially since Kakashi was probably still furious with her for hiding Naru from him for so long.

Still...she couldn't help wondering if those two crazy kids had gone to a love hotel by now or something.

Knowing Naru like she did, they just might've. But then again knowing Kakashi like she did, she may have a new reason altogether to fear for her life since Kakashi was a respectful man who would have brought Naru up in a similar fashion to his own. With morals and values that had little to do with being easy.

Not that Naru was an easy gal to begin with. That frosty personality of hers had scared off many men since she first started to develope into a woman.

Tsunade sighed and weighed the pros and cons of going out looking for the two and after a moment decided to summon Jiriaya. Aside from him being Naru's part time sensei/babysitter he was also her godfather so natrually he should be in on any mischief she might decide to take part in.

Not only that but if Kakashi caught their scent (and he would) she didn't fool herself about that. Then all she had to do was run faster than Jiriaya and she just might get away scot clean while Kakashi tore into the old sage.

Yeah, that sounded like it would work.

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Naru became very distant after their conversation earlier. Something that troubled Kakashi greatly since he needed to hear her voice almost as much as he needed to be able to reach out and touch her.

He'd been trying to coax her into talking to him for the past few hours. Hell he'd even tried to coax her into letting him buy her some new clothes, shoes, a pet minx (that was simply as a joke. He hadn't expected a live minx to be anywhere near the place he'd pointed) yet nothing he suggested seemed to spark her interest. After a while, he'd stopped trying.

Feeling dejected, Kakashi merely slipped his hands into his pants pockets and walked along beside her in silence until they rounded the corner and he noticed that the area was littered with cafe's and other places to sit and eat. Glancing at his watch to check the time, he noted that they had been walking since about ninish that morning and it was now well after one.

Reaching out he grasped Naru's arm in a light grip and pointed up ahead when she turned to look at him. "What?" Naru asked in a frosty tone that almost made him flinch.

"It's after one. Would you like something to eat?" Naru looked at him with an almost sad expression for a moment before quickly covering it up and blanking her expression and nodding.

"Sure. Lets eat something." She said as he gave her a forced smile, anxious to know what was on her mind and why she had closed herself off from him so suddenly.


	26. Chapter 26

Kakashi picked a cafe with a cozy feel to it and pulled out Naru's chair for her before sitting down, then waited five minutes for her to stop staring at her chair and sit in it before handing her a menu to look over.

"Talk to me sweetheart. Tell me what's bothering you all of a sudden." Kakashi said as he opened his menu and automatically noticed the parfaits that they had and recalled sharing a few with Naru when she was younger. She always wound up with yogart on her little face, something that he had found immensely funny.

But he doubted that she would find humor in the memory right now.

Sighing due to Naru's continued silence Kakashi set the menu aside and reached out and plucked her menu from her hands, earning a startled/peeved look from her as he set it aside and tried once again to coax her into talking to him. "Talk to me Naru..._please_."

Naru stared at him for several seconds then grumbled something about not wanting to talk and looked away. Her expression sulky. Kakashi waited several more seconds for her to say something before asking, "Are you jealous that I mentioned another woman's name?"

"I couldn't care less what you do. It isn't like we're lovers or anything." Naru said in a dark tone.

Kakashi tilted his head to the side a bit and hummed. Silly girl. She could deny what she was feeling all she liked but it made no difference. He knew that she was jealous, and angry about hearing him mention Anko's name. But for the life of him he couldn't figure out why.

Was she upset because she thought he had a girlfriend? Or was she upset about something else entirely?

Like did she maybe think that just because he had mentioned another female's name that he didn't care about her as much as he professed too? Was that why she had suddenly shut down? Maybe he should tell her that he loved her. But in a strictly platonic way.

Reaching out he grasped her hand to get her attention and blurted out quickly, "I love you Naru!" Naru gave him a wide eyed look as his face slowly but surely turned red and he caught several people sitting at the tables around them looking at him.

_Oh crap. _Kakashi thought in a slight panic as he started to ramble as Naru tried to pull her hand free of his grasp. "I mean, I love you. I mean- in a strictly platonic way! I mean, I'm sorry I don't know what I'm saying! But I'm not trying to be offensive!"

"Really? Cause you kind of _are_ being offensive." Naru said in a dark tone that didn't bode well, after a moment or so of silence. Kakashi cringed a little bit and fell silent before saying.

"Then I'm sorry for any offense that I've caused. And ask that you _please_ tell me what it is that I need to say to keep you from getting pissed at me."

"Then say this-"

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Jiriaya appeared in front of Tsunade in a puff of smoke and immediately began asking questions. "Kakashi's here? He's met up with Naru? Where are they now? Are they getting along? Naru hasn't drop kicked his awkward ass off of a cliff?"

Tsunade held up a hand to silence him, her head fairly spinning after all of his questions. "Yes. Yes. I don't know. Yes, as far as I know. No. At least I hope not."

"Well hell, Tsunade we need to find them." Jiriaya said as he grabbed her hand and started to drag her along behind him.


End file.
